Captain Johnno is a telemovie from the Australian Touch the Sun series. The film is quite famous in Australia and in 1988 won the International Emmy Award.
Its main protagonist is the partly deaf 10 year old named Johnno. He lives with his family in a small fishing town. His sister Julie helps him at school and keeps the local bullies away from him.
Johnno’s life changes when his sister has to depart to a boarding school. Johnno fears that he won’t be able to manage without her and tries to convince his parents not to let her go or to let him go with her.
He doesn’t yet know that they are considering sending him to a special school for people with hearing disabilities. When he finds out, he runs away and sails to a nearby island where he plans to live a Robinson Crusoe style life away from the complex problems of society.
This film raises a number of issues about family life and it’s conflicts, responsibilities and adjustments. In addition, there are three main character relationships which one should pay attention to as they are important for the plot development. The first one is between Johnno and his sister. She is there for him, but one day has to leave and this distresses him. Their parting scene with her crying in the back seat of the bus and him running after it is one of the most emotional cinema scenes I have ever seen.
The second important relationship is the friendship of Johnno and an Italian immigrant, Tony, who is a newcomer to Australia and cannot speak English well. They form a strong bond because, in a way, they are both outsiders and the object of ridicule by others. Tony is glad to have a friend like Johnno. He listens to the boy and respects him for who he is.
The third relationship viewers should focus on is the one between Johnno and his father. While it is clear that the parents love their son, his father, in my opinion, behaved like a moron. He did not even know his son and, in a way, the viewer could sense his shame because of Johnno’s disability. He never listens to what his son has to say or tries to understand what he means, as if deafness has anything to do with Johnno’s thinking abilities. Even if at the end of the film his father reconsiders his attitude toward his son, I could never completely forgive him. But I guess that’s something each must witness and judge for oneself.
The acting in the film is quite good. Damien Walters is in the role of Johnno and delivers a performance that made me wonder how is it possible to portray a deaf boy so realistically. I later found out that the young actor is deaf himself. Another actor leaving a large impression on me for his acting abilities was Joe Petruzzi in the role of the Italian immigrant.
Overall I liked the film. It has many life lessons both for its characters and its viewers. The film is quite emotional and I think that many fans of the Coming-of-Age genre would appreciate it. A similar flick is the British film Dear Frankie, which I also recommend.
Several video clips are available at the Australian Screen`s web site .
Je suis le seigneur du château ( 
I knew about the Greenhouse effect for a while. It has been recommended for me several times . I thought that the film`s will be a sci-fi and will deal with some outer space – but when I finally saw it – I found out that my idea of it was quite wrong. For a better that is – as Greenhouse effect turned out to be excellent even if overwhelming sad coming of age drama. I really liked it – and even trough it has been released on DVD I tend to think of it as a festival film.
The second young protagonist of the film is Ernest (Aleksandr Yakin) – a homeless 12 years old boy who lives in a Greenhouse , baths in a car wash and tries to earn some money by begging in the station and taking various odd jobs in the city. He is smart boy – street wise and has learned a lot about survival and people from the streets . He dreams of heading to Greece with another street kid – who is being hold in hospital for operation . The young actor Aleksander Yakin fits perfectly his role – in an interview the film director mentions that Aleksander has a complicated biography himself and something about his life, shown in the picture. The directors also stated that the 14-year-old actor has demonstrated surprisingly mature understanding of the meaning of the difficult role of homeless kid.
Ernest meets Rita at the station. When he finds out that she doesn`t have where to go – he takes her to the Greenhouse where he spends his nights. He teaches her a lot about life in the streets – as despite his younger age he is not a novice on the streets and the life there has teaches him the rules for survivals – in a sense he acts as a mentor to the 18 year old Rita. Their relationship has a central role in the movie`s plot . They learn a lot from each other and the life – which contributes to the notable value this movie has for all fans of the coming of age genre.
Do you want to see a really good film ? Film that will make you think – what is happening , why is it happening ? Film that will surprise you – an indie film …Yes ? Then you definitely should check out the new Russian film Cheesecake . Reviewing it i not an easy task as I would not want to spoil your experience . The first scenes you will see are related to the story – even trough you will discover this further in the film . What you have to focus your attention on is an add – yes an add – I know that you are used to skip those while they are screening on TV – but this add – this add is special and so are the people who act in it.
One day – a coincidence bring those thee character together – in a commercial of a Cheesecake. On the advertising shoot, they depict a happy family in Moscow: smile, drink tea. They don`t even suspect that the fate has prepared for them big surprises and twists…at least not until one night Mikhail discovers Alesha – on the floor Matt in front of his apartment . Alesha asks Michael to allow him spent the night at his house. Michal thinks about it – he doesn`t like the idea – as he hardly knows the boy – but after some thoughts he eventually agrees .
I have wanted to see Uranya ever since a friend told me how good it was after seeing it at a movie festival. He called it a pleasant surprise and highly recommended it. I wanted him to review its for my blog since the film was coming of age flick – he never got to it. So instead – you are going to get yet another review from me – yeaaay ! ( :
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