The Beauty and the Ugliness of Loss in ‘The Boys Are Back’

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ATLANTA – Sometimes human tragedy hits dramatically, but other times it subtly, imperceptibly, alters the intrinsic fibers of everyday life in undetectable ways. That is the premise behind Scott Hicks’ film “The Boys Are Back.” It is the story not of death, but of the strategy human beings devise to cope, to defend and to protect themselves against pain and loss. And though it sometimes reveals the distasteful, ugly ways in which people interact while coping with tragedy, it is also a beautifully shot and truthful portrayal of human frailties and their reactions to loss.

At the center of one family’s tragedy is a father named Joe (Clive Owen). He is a parent to two sons, each one from a different marriage – a British expatriate who followed his pregnant mistress to Australia where he divorced his British first wife, married the mistress Katy, and made a fresh start with his new family.

The Boys Are Back.
The Boys Are Back.
Photo credit: Miramax

This life seems to be going well until Katy (Laura Fraser) suddenly falls ill with end-stage cancer. Mere minutes into “The Boys Are Back,” Katy has died a difficult, painful death, and a man who was emotionally flawed and fairly stunted before must now handle an overwhelming loss and the nurturing and physical care of a small child.

The Boys Are Back.
The Boys Are Back.
Photo credit: Miramax

As Joe, Owen gives a lithe and subtle performance. His eyes flash a contained but smoldering anger, and he effectively conveys Joe’s lack of affect and sporadic emotional disconnect from his young son Artie (Nicholas McAnulty). Owen’s ability to navigate Joe’s gamut of emotions is encapsulated in the scene in which he calls his older son Harry (George MacKay) in England to tell him of Katy’s death. On the phone, he silently breaks down, a camera close-up revealing tears streaming down his wrenched face, but when Harry asks if he is all right, he emits a forceful, deadpan, “Yeah. Of course.” Then he tells him he loves him, calls him sweetheart, and says good-bye, walking the tightrope of Joe’s ambivalence delicately but clearly.

Simon Carr’s memoir, adapted for the screen by Allan Cubitt, is to be commended for its starkly honest portrayal of a child facing the death of a parent. Artie is childishly distracted, self-involved, but carries deep wounds over the loss. Older son Harry hardly knew Katy, but his pain and loss is over his father’s abandonment of him years ago, for which he comes to Australia to seek amends.

Joe is the most problematic character of the three. He is affectionate and nurturing to his sons, but also selfish, flashing anger at the seven-year-old when he expresses an unabashed wish to live at a home that has a “mum.” He drinks too much and cannot effectively deal with his guilt and loneliness. He counteracts his loss with atrociously lax parenting and housekeeping techniques, and abuses other adults around him, such as his affectionate but judgmental mother-in-law and the sweet, hopeful mother of Artie’s friend who wants to date him.

The Boys Are Back.
The Boys Are Back.
Photo credit: Miramax

In conjunction with the human story, Greig Fraser’s cinematography for “The Boys Are Back” is sumptuously visceral. On an escapist road trip immediately following Katy’s death, Artie finds a deep Jacuzzi tub in one of their hotels. The intense abandon with which he cannonballs into the sloshing tub, lusciously splashing soapy water around the bathroom, highlights the untethered chaos of the family’s new emotional state.

Pans revealing a cluttered, dirty kitchen are set to a faint soundtrack of flies buzzing around crusty dishes. As Joe attempts to save his job as a sports writer and mind his kids at the same time, he reports on the Australian Open by watching it on TV as the boys amuse themselves by hitting over-ripe oranges outside with tennis rackets. Close-ups of orange droplets splattering through late-afternoon sunlight are aligned to the palpable gush of fruit through plastic tennis racket strings.

“The Boys Are Back” is a beautiful film, but it is not always easy. Joe’s moodiness and his failings are identifiably, understandably human, but he is rarely likable. When he promises Harry that he will be better, even he doesn’t seem to be believe it. But redemption and a happy ending are not the point of this story. It offers no explanation, no judgment of the characters’ mistakes. It merely chronicles the paths they take while attempting to make sense out of loss. This unadorned portrayal of humanity is what makes the film unexpectedly beautiful and addictively watchable.

‘The Boys Are Back’ opened in limited release on September 25th, 2009 and stars Clive Owen, Nicholas McAnulty, George MacKay and Laura Fraser. The film opened in Chicago on October 2nd, 2009 and expands across the country next week, October 9th. It’s directed by Scott Hicks, with a screenplay by Allan Cubitt based on a memoir by Simon Carr. It is rated PG-13.

By EMILY RIEMER
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com

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