Your patience will be rewarded

For years, we’ve witnessed a never-ending stream of movies about fathers learning to bond with their sons or, just as frequently, surrogate fathers bonding with surrogate sons.

It can be maddening. But every once in awhile, a picture comes along that gets it right.

The (mostly) Australian film “The Boys Are Back” takes awhile to come into its own, but it eventually blossoms into a heartfelt and moving example of the genre.

Joe is an English sportswriter living in Australia, a single father raising a 6-year-old boy by himself. The fact that his beloved wife is dead is made clear in the opening scenes, rendering pointless the next 10 minutes of will-she-die-or-won’t-she flashbacks.

Joe is apparently the worst father in the world (he is also possibly the worst sportswriter, though the film doesn’t seem inclined to agree). He is a laissez faire parent, he has no rules and not boundaries and he apologizes for everything -- even things that are not his fault. Fortunately, he receives occasional parenting advice from a hallucination of his late wife.

This device is hackneyed and shameless, but somehow it works.

“Somehow it works” is the watchword of “The Boys Are Back,” but the film’s quality isn’t really that random. The movie succeeds because of fine acting all around and the sensitive direction of Scott Hicks.

As Joe, Owen may not be brilliant the entire time, but he seems to grow into the role as the film goes along. He shows genuine love for his son, and just as important, he acts as if he believes in the terrible decisions he is making.

Emma Booth also stands out as the quietly hopeful (and conveniently available) mother of a classmate of the son, and George MacKay also makes waves as an older son who lives in England. But the whole movies hangs on the slender shoulders of Nicholas McAnulty, who plays 6-year-old Artie. His performance is so unforced, so natural and b
believable that we have to remind ourselves that he is acting.

Hicks, the director, has made one good movie (“Shine”) and a host of lesser efforts (“No Reservations,” “Snow Falling on Cedars” and the Richmond-filmed “Hearts in Atlantis”). “The Boys Are Back” falls on the more positive side of the ledger. He gives the story an unhurried sense of momentum; the scenes are just the length they need to be and they are all necessary to the plot, aside from the flashback at the beginning.

Alan Cubitt’s script suffers from the occasional howler (“So, what is it you want?” “Something I can’t have”) and is not overburdened by subtlety. Still, all movies hinge on their screenplays, and this one’s script eventually works its magic on the audience.

Hankies will not be needed. But by the end, “The Boys Are Back” will have you entranced.