The Boys Are Back

What happens when with a blink of an eye everything in your life changes? When the woman you love is like water slipping through your fingers and there is nothing you can do about it? When you have to explain to your little son why mummy is dying? When you don't know how to comfort him because you have never been around?

When this happens to Joe Warr (Clive Owen), his whole life changes along with every relationship he has with his close ones. How do you solve problems in a child's head when understanding anything going on in there is like explaining the physics behind an airplane to a geko? Joe adopts a simple rule: "Just say yes."

This is a heartwarming story of fathers and sons and the unity that forms when life decides to challenge us. It reinforces my view of of whatever works (no quote to Woody Allen's last film intended) because often there is no right or wrong in life. It's just... whatever works. When your kid needs to turn your house into a pool, not that I am saying this is good parenting, let him.

Major kudos to Scott Hicks, who to me, as unprofessional as my view may be, is completely unknown. He managed to direct this to a standard that shuts me up and that really is good, because I have verbal diarrhea which will now be aimed at the cast, the poor things. I appreciated Clive Owen with the understanding that most of his role involved saying nothing and looking as miserable as a basset-hound witnessing his food being stolen. Having said that, often it is what is left unsaid that tells a million words and being quiet the real difficulty. I feel the story made the acting, which is never too much to an actor's credit. However, the best actor, much like the best design, is invisible. Pick your route to go down, one way or the other the lead was solid and he deserves credit.

The film was well paced to preserve the underlying taste of sadness and the personal tragedy of those involved while depicting them dealing with their sorrow. It also makes me think of the roles we play in life and in other peoples' lives. How prepared are we to adapt a new role, but more importantly, how willing are we to let the role change us? Owen's character said that saying yes is more difficult than saying no and that because saying yes means we need to change something in ourselves. We need to make an effort.

I definitely recommend this, time and money well spent.