Boy Choirs & Soloists

 Besides coming of age movies, which is the main theme of this blog, there are also a lot of good boy choir and boy soloists music of different genres, that I´ll like to feature in my blog as a bonus. I´ll start with linking to a site with lots of info here. I also would like to present a very talented Swedish young singer that you can see and listen to in this post. One of my favourites is the ”Angel voices” with this song, they have a great repertoaire and there are several cd:s with their music on the market.

Btw, I haven´t got a clue yet about the title of the ”unknown movie” in the recent post with the same name, does anyone know pls?

Alex Prior is another talented boy in the music genre.

    

Dreaming about you

Check out this interesting review about the film ”Dreaming about you” at theskykid.com. There are also some screenshots and a trailer!

Benny´s gym

This is one of 5 short films covered in one DVD, coming from the Norwegian Filminstitute. For a very nice trailer with English subtitles go to Ikarus, the text about the film there is in German, but you´ll find the trailer in the end. It´s enjoyable!

Direct link to the trailer. You can buy the complete film at the Norwegian Filminstitute.

Don´t forget to check out much more at Ikarus!

Another good Norwegian film is ”Sons” .

The 5 short films are:

”Lykke til, pappa” /”Ice”

”Bennys gym” /”Benny´s gym”

”Der nede sorger de ikke”/ ”Down there they don´t mourn”

”Elva bak huset” /”Behind the house”

”Stikk” /”Sting”

 

Alfred is 12 and is constantly bullied

by the other boys at school. Alfred is good at drawing and one of the bullies, Benny, begins to show interest in his artistic abilities. He wants to get a tattoo and persuades Alfred to secretly give him one. This is the beginning of a friendship between Alfred and Benny that is initially involuntary, but gradually becomes quite warm. A friendship that must be kept secret at all costs.

 

 

ORIGINAL TITLE: BENNYS GYM
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: NORWAY 2007
DIRECTOR: Lisa Marie Gamlem
PRODUCER: Christian Fredrik Martin, Asle Vatn
SCRIPT: Lisa Marie Gamlem
PHOTO: Marius Motzow Gulbrandsen
CAST: Atdhe Belegu, Kim Erik Tena Eriksen
RUNTIME: 24 min.
PRODUCTION: Friland
INT. SALES: Norsk filminstitutt

 

”Benny´s gym”

”Der nede sorger de ikke” /”Down there they don´t mourn”

Synopsis: We meet two classmates who can´t adjust to life at school. Even if he has lived there for a year now, Thomas still hasn´t been accepted by his classmates. Karsten is an oddball liked by few. The film is about the day when they, for various reasons, sneak away from their swimming lesson and destroy the carpentry room. This is a film about how inner angst shows itself in physical destructive behaviour.

”Stikk”/ ”Sting”

Synopsis: Alexander is 13 years old, small, thin and gets bullied in school. But one day a new guy comes to his class and encourages Alexander to get revenge! 

”Elva bak huset” /”Behind the house”

Synopsis: A dark story about the first time you see someone like yourself.

Movie unknown

Does anyone know what movie these screenshots come from? (I don´t)

Cartouches gauloises (Summer of ´62)

A rather violent movie (for being a coming-of-age movie with preteen children) about the last days of the French colonial era in Algeria. The story is told through the eyes of a group of boys whose friendship now is deeply affected by all the military and political changes that take place in their neighbourhood. The film focuses on their lives and the young actors are very good and that makes this a rather good coming-of-age-movie. The perhaps somewhat controversial theme here is the amount of violence that were used by French soldiers, but otherwise this is a plain mainstream movie without any controversial subjects. Movies with such subjects that I have blogged about before are for example ”For a lost soldier” , ”Maximo Oliveros” , ”This special friendship” , ”Body without soul” , ”The flavor of corn” and ”Wild tigers I have known” . Movies like these aren´t automatically better than family movies like ”The thief lord” , ”Red balloon” , ”Oliver Twist” , ”Flipper” , ”Fatty Finn” and ”December boys” , but they make you think more and aren´t just plain entertainment.

Warning: The trailer contains some violence, not suitable for those under 15.

The Valley Between

Bruno Gunther is a feisty, 14-year-old immigrant, growing up in a small farming community in South Australia during the 1930s. While his stern German father preaches hard work, Bruno is constantly tempted by the chance to do mischief. Whether it is startling a prim teacher as he flees from a runaway bull clad only in his underwear or organizing a ”race” between two feuding neighbours, Bruno´s world is an idyllic one. His high spirits will sustain him as his close-knit family experiences some dark times- and the memories of this gentle world will remain with him forever.

A nice, rather exciting family movie with focus on the 14-year-old boy who is on the verge to manhood. It´s made up of several episodes, therefore with a total runtime of 290 min, which I actually watched non-stop….

 

The Thief Lord (2006)

As a contrast to ”Tras el cristal” , this is a family movie. Two orphans , 12-year old Prosper (Aaron Johnson) and 5-year-old Boniface (Jasper Harris) flee Hamburg for Venice, a city their late mother always has talked about. Chased by awful Aunt Esther and Uncle Max, they´re heading for a real adventure. 

Prosper and Boniface

Rollo Weeks (here as Scipio, the Thief Lord)

Once in Venice, the two boys run into the Thief Lord, played by Rollo Weeks, here acting the 15-year old outgoing Scipio. Prosper and Boniface become members of this new ”family” of thieves, living in a closed down cinema together with the other kids. But one day the secret of the mysterious Thief Lord is revealed.

In this story we are told of a magical merry-go-round. If you go for a ride you´re actually getting older by the turns, but if you´re going backwards you´re turning back time to get younger. You just have to decide in what direction you want to go…

 

 The actors Aaron Johnson and Jasper Harris.