Flirting (1992)

Wonderful Movie

Great Film overall

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A lake separates the male and female dormitories of Australia's rural St. Albans boarding school, but water can hardly part the flirtatious musk hovering in the air between windows. It's 1965, and love, fear, sexual desire, and whole-hearted awkwardness is radiating from the bodies of the students. Headmasters stalk the hallways, looking for a passerby to whip; pangs are repressed in favor of mild-mannered behavior. But as the students age, their romances flicker into a sudden burst of unbridled flame. Sooner or later, they have to leave their childhood fears behind — upcoming is adulthood.Flirting is a lyrical snapshot of the inelegant but lilting time in which innocence washes away and is replaced with uncomfortable, yet exciting, verisimilitude. It's a high school movie, but it can hardly be compared to the wispy transparency of its many clichéd rivals. It's not a one- note Weird Science pile or a sassy Mean Girls; it's more akin to The Breakfast Club, considering the thoughts and decisions of young adults and finding the beauty in their successes, in their flaws. Some teenagers are one-track-minded and beastly, but more are attentive. Flirting casts the immature rascals aside and puts a spotlight on the youths that contemplate the outcome of each and every decision. In that respect, the film is better because, for once, the youngsters once characterized by Anthony Michael Hall and Shirley Temple suddenly become introspective humans, not cartoons.Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) is a gangly 17-year-old with a stutter to get over. His head is too big for his body, his body is too small for his head, and the words that come out of his mouth don't sound as sophisticated as he would like. But he is a rebel, knowing that real- life mistakes aren't followed by an authoritative whipping and that math doesn't really matter in the long run. He idolizes Satre not only for his work but also for his poise, and he longs to break free from St. Albans so he can fully realize his many potentials.Thadiwe Adjewa (Thandie Newton), the exotic Ugandan-Kenyan-British daughter of a diplomat, has just arrived on the grounds, inadvertently inviting unwanted scrutiny from her female classmates. She is remarkably intelligent and effortlessly beautiful — perhaps she intimates the opposite sex, fuels the jealousy of her gawky roommates. When Danny and Thandiwe lock eyes at a rugby game one day, a spark ignites. His perceptive aura matches her cerebral wit — infatuation thrives. It doesn't take long before a mutual adoration erupts. They've never felt love like this before, and they're going to make it count for the few months they have together.The majority of teen movies believe they have to be self-deprecatingly funny or overly simple to be successful, completely unaware that purity is ultimately more winning than materialistic quotability. Teenagers are fascinating creatures, phenomenons of emotion, but films tend to liken them as a target of satire. A shame. A movie like Flirting vibrates with poignancy; in the process, I connected with its sensitive characters and, eventually, built enough of a relationship with them to a point where I felt the need to compare their hesitations and choices to my very own life. Duigan watches them move and applies their burgeoning ideals to even the hardest of moments; scenes, like the closing one (in which Danny and Thandiwe spend their last night together in a local hotel in order to properly say goodbye), defy expectations through their mannered receptiveness.A film like Flirting is easy to hold close to the heart because its conflicts have been felt by all. It's touching, it's romantic, it's witty — it ripples with pensive quiet. It doesn't just flirt with brilliance; it is brilliant, whether it knows it or not. (It also made stars out of Newton and Nicole Kidman, and kickstarted the careers of Taylor and Naomi Watts.) Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com

Set in the 60s, John Duigan's 'Flirting' is an offbeat teen movie. At the centre of it is the love story of an Austrlian and a Ugandan. The film is given a gentle treatment and what makes it all the more appealing is that it avoids the usual clichés that are so frequent in teen movies. However, the pacing is a tad slow. I also found the ending to be a bit on the awkward side. Regarding the technical side, most of it is appropriately underused like the calm cinematography and the underused lighting. Noah Taylor and Thandie Newton, very young at the time, are both impressive and the chemistry between them feels right. Nicole Kidman stands out as the fiery Nichola. Naomi Watts is terrific in a bit role. 'Flirting' is a quiet film made with subtlety. It may not appeal to those who are looking for the usual saccharine teen rom-com but those who are in for something a little different in the genre are more likely to appreciate it.

This has got to be by far one of the most touching, intelligent, sensitive and emotionally mature and rewarding films out there on first love. What is also truly impressive is that it deals with this topic while also touching on inter-racial love, racism, African colonialism, and Jean-Paul Sarte without ever once becoming condescending or maudlin. It is a film that not only respects the feelings of the two fully-inhabited main character but by doing so, makes the viewer all the more involved in their world and feelings for each other. The director and the script both assume that the viewer is intelligent and the viewer is accordingly rewarded.Noah Taylor and Thandie Newton are truly exceptional and highly intelligent actors and watching both their bodies of work like "Shine", "Max", "Beseiged" and "Crash has truly been a pleasure. I do hope the best is yet to come from these fine actors and I'm sure their futures are bright.Much has been made of Nicole Kidman in this film but really she's only a secondary character as well as the young Naomi Watts. I wish Hollywood would stop looking at this film as a Nicole Kidman vehicle when truly Taylor and Newton deserve the attention for this early work.This movie is also beautifully shot, especially the scenes when Danny rows his boat over the river by moonlight or watching the two of them skim rocks over the water surface or Danny at the end, reading Thandie's letter on the windy rocks and the sky suddenly clearing up on him. At the very end Danny come to the very mature realization on the transcendent nature of true love, something which I don't think he understood in "The Year My Voice Broke".I actually went out and got this film on DVD and never tire of watching it from time to time, a sign of great film. It really reminds you of what it was once like when those first feelings of romantic love started to appear in your life, all the promise, the novelty and the authenticity as well as the insecurities. So it's not really just a "teen" movie, I think just about anyone who has had these experiences can appreciate this gem of a film.Do yourself a favour and try finding a copy, you won't regret it.

I watched this movie for the first time on November 8th 2003 and boy oh boy, I was just waiting for something spontaneous to happen but I was disappointed. I mean, where, how, what, who? I don't know what else to say but it all seemed so pointless to me. Whomever understands this movie, good for you.