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The Boys Are Back Our rating: Your rating:   MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some sexual language and thematic elements) Genre: Drama Theater release: September 25, 2009 by Miramax Films Directed by: Scott Hicks Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes Cast: Clive Owen (Joe Warr), Nicholas McAnulty (Artie), George MacKay (Harry), Laura Fraser (Katy) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

Grief is a fickle and demanding companion. And it can inspire really lame movies that cheapen our very understanding of grief, or it can inspire movies that richly explore the complicated relationship between fickle, demanding grief and frail yet resilient human beings. Thankfully, The Boys Are Back is a lovely example of the latter.

Inspired by Simon Carr's 2001 memoir, The Boys Are Back in Town, this film tells the story of witty, on-the-go sportswriter Joe Warr (Clive Owen) and the way grief shapes him and his two boys. Due to divorce and remarriage, Joe has sons on two continents—his homeland of England and his current home in the beautiful Australian countryside. Though he loves both boys, Joe rarely sees either due to his constant work travels.

Clive Owen as Joe, Laura Fraser as Katy

Days after returning from another trip, his world is rocked when his wife Katy (Laura Fraser) collapses in the middle of a cocktail party. It's an aggressive cancer that steals her away within weeks. Joe is left to help their six-year-old son, Artie (Nicholas McAnulty), who doesn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation, navigate this loss even as Joe struggles to do so himself.  

Despite protests from his play-it-safe mother-in-law (Julia Blake), Joe decides a road trip is in order. He needs to escape—and get better acquainted with his son. So he packs up Artie and Artie's favorite stuffed monkey in their Range Rover and drives to a succession of lonely hotel rooms, trying to evade the grief that follows them like a dark shadow.

Joe and his boys Harry and Artie

Both on the road and back at home, Joe gets better acquainted with single fatherhood—the constancy of dirty dishes and dirty clothes (which he largely ignores) and the non-stop energy of a precocious six-year-old (which feels like a life-giving balm in the midst of death and grief). So Joe embraces this wild-child approach to life, participating in in-house water balloon fights and late-night games of flashlight tag.

And just when Joe and Artie are falling into a new, almost feral existence, Joe's other son, angsty teen Harry (George MacKay), comes for a visit. Harry brings an intriguing and unexpected plotline to the mix, as he questions his father about why he left his first family for the new one he created so far away. Despite this angst, Harry joins in the fray, until all the trio's emotions—grief, abandonment, fear, love, anger—finally come bubbling to the surface.

Though this might all sound heavy and depressing, it's really not. When tough emotions are portrayed honestly—instead of sanitized (see Love Happens for a recent example) or manipulated for most gut-wrenching effect (see Legends of the Fall for a classic example)—it's gratifying. We've all experienced staggering loss or other difficult situations, so we know honest grief from the imitators. This is the real deal. In all its messy, sometimes funny, transcendent, healing reality.

6-year-old Nicholas McAnulty is delightful in his film debut

The fact that this portrayal is also engaging and entertaining is a huge credit to the original material by Simon Carr, the great screenplay by Allan Cubitt, and also to the wonderful acting. Clive Owen gives an award-worthy performance here, emotionally fraught but never overdone. He offers so many emotions—grief, child-like joy, anger, remorse, cluelessness, affection, awakening. All are believable, and so enjoyable to watch. And how intriguing to see male characters navigate these emotions on film and not get all embarrassed by the display—or lapse into crude bro-mance humor to make up for it.

Six-year-old Nicholas McAnulty makes an impressive feature film debut. His angry, wordless tantrum in the car in one scene just breaks your heart. Then he's all boyish danger and glee as he zip-lines from a tree in their front yard. Let's hope he finds more complex childhood roles to enchant us with in the future.

The cinematography is sumptuous. Shot in the South Australian countryside, The Boys Are Back's far-flung emotions are mirrored in the beautiful rolling hills lined with dry, dusty roads. And the sea provides both play and perspective, as our boys frolic in and contemplate alongside it in various scenes.

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