FLIRTING (1991)

Directed & Written By: John Duigan 
Cinematography By: Geoff Burton 
Editor: Liz Mullinar

Cast: Noah Taylor, Nicole Kidman, Thandie Newton, Naomi Watts, Kym Wilson 



Danny has been sent to boarding school, in this sequel to The Year My Voice Broke. Against a backdrop of bullying and sadistic teachers Danny strikes up an affair with an African girl, Thandiwe, studying at a nearby girl's school. Their affair blossoms while everyone tries to stop it. Nicole Kidman also appears as a sexually repressed senior at Thandie's school.

This is a sequel to the coming of age film “The Year My Voice Broke” The main character of that film Danny Embling Played by Noah Taylor now has been sent to prep school where he is a social misfit as he is more intellectual then his classmates. He seems to have a mind of his own and not just go with the group when one day the sister prep school the all girls school takes in a African girl who is picked on but finds a kindred spirit in Danny and they start to date which upsets all of there classmates.

This was Thandie Newton’s first big role and she is the reason I saw this movie when I saw her picture in the advertisements. I knew i had to see this film because at that point she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen which lead me to this film, which I love. I was not disappointed seeing her in this film I knew she would be a star I didn’t think it would take so long though. I’lll admit I saw this the sequel before I saw the first film. Which is also very good but both of these films while having the same main character are very different even though they both deal with first love in the first film Danny was more of a witness to first love with a girl he was in love with but she was in love with someone else here this is his own story he falls in love with someone who actually feels the same way about him.

This is a coming of age story one of my favorite genres so of course the emotions on display on this movie shoot right to my heart. As this is a sequel it also feels like a second act of Danny’s life unfortunately director John Duigan never got a chance to make a third act film which would have made this a supreme coming of age trilogy sort of like Francois Truffaut’s Antoine Doniel films but just like my American cousin and American boyfriends these films only got to two films where I guess we are left to imagine what was next for these characters.

This is a more realistic look at teenagers. As the cast looks real enough and most of the characters are the age of their characters, as well as having the acne.

I also like that this is a love story that doesn’t end well. It’s not the romantic fantasy we are used to seeing it even involves a little bit of politics but what this film is really about other the adolescence is class. This was the beginning of Nicole Kidman’s mastery of playing cold authoritive characters. This was also Ms. Kidman's Last role for Austrailian cinema for at least a decade.

Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a coming of age story like this again that is moving and realistic as most these days have emotion but are too focused on being somewhat hip. This film set in Australia during the 1950’s and having not the best looking actors add to the authenticity and show more of a independent truth to the material.

Noah Taylor was so graceful why he never became a bigger star, I’ll never know he was just magical in these films witty and handsome.

This is definitely a film you should check out and rent whenever possible

 GRADE: A-