sol- Mixed feelings swell inside a scrawny, timid teenager as he watches his lifelong crush fall in love with a muscular jock in this Australian drama starring Noah Taylor. From the outset, 'The Year My Voice Broke' might sound like just another love triangle tale, but the character dynamics are rich and complex. Taylor hates the jock (played by Ben Mendelsohn) as he represents everything he is not and because he is able to get the girl (played by Loene Carmen). Taylor has several great, quiet moments in which all this scorn comes through his stares alone. Mendelsohn, however, believes Taylor to be his closest male friend, not thinking twice about rescuing him from bullies and obliviously telling him how much he fancies Carmen. Then there is Carmen, who seems to know that Taylor like-likes her, but yet does not consider his feelings when making out in front of him. All this tension leads to a curious degree of cynicism erupting (Taylor delights in Mendelsohn getting in trouble with the law as it means he is out of the way) but nothing is ever fairytale perfect. Some aspects of the film are confounding. In particular, we never see what Taylor sees in Carmen, who between her crooked teeth and tomboyish mannerisms is anything but a conventional love interest, but Taylor's performance is so solid that we believe his affection even if we do not understand it. Same goes for his scorn for Mendelsohn. Again, it is credible even if it seems rash on Taylor's behalf. In fact, Taylor delivers such a strong performance here that it is wonder that he never went on to much further acclaim.

tomsview Coming of age films aren't exactly new to cinema. It's a subject that has been revisited in every generation, ever since James Dean helped Hollywood discover a new species – the teenager.Although 1955's "Rebel Without a Cause" probably wasn't top-of-mind when John Duigan made "The Year My Voice Broke" in 1987, the alienation, emotional confusion and search for identity felt by many teenagers provides a common theme even if separated by three decades, different stories and different continents.With its nostalgic narration, slow pans of the landscape and soaring strings on the soundtrack, "The Year My Voice Broke" could have been cloying; instead it is captivating. It gets you in and keeps you there thanks to inspired casting, an unusual setting, and a seductive mood – thanks in no small part to those soaring strings.The story revolves around three teenagers living in an Australian country town in 1962, Danny Embling, Freya Olsen and Trevor Leishman, played by Noah Taylor, Leone Carmen and Ben Mendleson.Danny narrates the story. He is in love with Freya, a girl who has lived her whole life in the town, but is treated as an outsider by many of the townspeople. Freya sees Danny as a friend, but has stronger feelings for the rebellious Trevor. Eventually Trevor gets into trouble with the law – and also gets Freya into trouble – a tough situation for a girl in a country town in 1962. Danny discovers the reason why Freya is treated as an outsider, and Trevor's wildness and criminal tendencies cause tragedy. Freya departs never to return, leaving Danny with memories of a love that was never returned.This poignant film shows Duigan's understanding of his teenage characters; their lack of sophistication, their loyalties, the conflicts with their peers, and the pressures they face in a small town.However, the film really hangs on Leone Carmen's performance. Nicole Kidman was considered for the role but Leone Carmen was chosen. While Nicole Kidman is the epitome of a movie star, Leone Carmen projects an almost opposite quality. Attractive, but with not so perfect teeth and hair she is refreshingly natural; almost too real, she gives life to the role of the tomboy developing into a woman who does not quite fit in.Noah Taylor shines as the awkward 15-year old who knows that he will never win the girl he is obsessed with; he looks unhappy in just about every scene and we feel his pain. Ben Mendelsohn's Trevor, the catalyst for much of the action, is an unappealing youth with a reckless streak. Freya is drawn to Trevor's sense of danger. But Mendelsohn overdoes Trevor's mannerism, especially the affected laugh – less would have delivered more as it does in his calmer scenes.Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending" is one of the most emotive pieces of music ever composed. Originally written for the concert hall, it was an inspired choice for the film – it's really Danny's theme, capturing his anguish and, as the music swells and soars, his eventual acceptance of things he can't control.This movie has a unique quality. Where it could have been overly sentimental, it projects honesty instead. Like all movies that really matter, it stays with you.

robert-temple-1 The talented John Duigan (perhaps best known for directing WIDE SARGASSO SEA (1993), based on the novel by Jean Rhys) wrote and directed this wonderful film about kids growing up in New South Wales, Australia, in 1962. Four years later, with the same boy in the lead, Duigan directed its sequel, FLIRTING (1991). The film is so honest, straightforward, and heart-rending, that it is a model of what an unpretentious film about real people should be. The film was made in the small town of Braidwood, which apart from its cinema looks like something from 1862 rather than 1962, so things clearly didn't change much in those days in the area they call the 'Tableland'. The film would not have worked if the two leads had not been so perfect. Seventeen year-old Loene Carmen is so fresh and real as the girl Freya Olson, but also so convincingly sad and tragic in the light of the events which ensue. The kids in this film just don't seem to be acting. We can almost believe that John Duigan sneaked into the little town with an invisible camera and recorded all of this really happening. The boy Danny is played by Noah Taylor. The honesty and integrity of his performance were the key to its success. He languishes with hopeless love as an onlooker to the tragic first romance of his childhood friend, Freya, who being older than him is 'out of his league' romantically. The pain of first love, especially unrequited first love, is intensely conveyed. There is also the implicit undercurrent that Freya may be his own half-sister, with neither of them realizing it, as there is a subplot about the dead mother of Freya, Sarah Amery, who died having her at the age of only 17, and the father may well have been Danny's own. But this is all the invisible 'grownup background' to the story of the kids, who are in the foreground of this tale. Ben Mendelsohn plays an older boy with a maniacal laugh who steals Freya's heart but who turns out to be mentally unbalanced, presumably with incipient schizophrenic. Things turn out badly. There are wonderful shots of the wild Australia, and the kids run around in the fields and on the hills with the abandon of a youth before everything became spoiled by cell phones, emails, and Facebook. Everyone in those days was outdoors all the time, not hunched over a computer. People actually looked at one another as they passed in the street, and were not peering into their Blackberrys or staring into space with a piece of metal stuck in their ear like a transplant. This film is an ode to real life, in a world which has forgotten what real life is. It is one of the masterpieces of the high tide of Australian cinema back in those days before the tide broke.

Howard Schumann John Duigan's The Year My Voice Broke stands out from other coming of age films because of its simple honesty and natural performances. Gorgeously photographed in Braidwood, New South Wales, Australia, the film avoids the usual "rites of passage" cliches and makes real the heartbreak of awakening sexuality and feeling alone. Set in 1962, Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) is a sensitive, scrawny 15-year old who is obsessed with his childhood friend, 16-year old Freya Olson (Leona Carmen). He writes poetry and tries to emulate rock stars to win her over but his voice is always breaking when he tries to sing. Freya, orphaned as a baby and now something of a wild spirit, shares her secrets with Danny in their private place on the nearby rocky crags. Both teens feel isolated, Danny from the macho attitudes of his schoolmates and Freya because of the truth she senses about her mother. Freya is increasingly attracted to Trevor (Ben Mendelsohn), a rugby player who is given to petty crime. Though the mood grows dark, Duigan uses humor to lighten things up when Danny attempts to hypnotize Freya into loving him, and when the boy tries mental telepathy to prevent Freya from kissing Trevor. Danny's loneliness is painfully evident when he tags along with Freya and Trevor on a date and has to endure the agony of watching them make love at a "haunted house". This house plays a significant part in Danny, Freya, and Trevor's relationship and in the film's dramatic climax. Duigan ties his story to the dark secret of the town whose discovery will change the lives of the characters forever and leave you reflecting on the pain of growing up.