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The December Girl
by Richard Horgan |
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8/2/2007 at 9:49:24 PM |
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It is positively liberating to watch Daniel Radcliffe, glasses off, engage in some entirely adult sexual situations on screen. But of course, we already know the Harry Potter star can act; the Australian period drama December Boys, filmed in between Potter films four and five, is but the latest whistle stop in a long and successful journey.
No, the real revelation here is Radcliffe’s 21-year-old Aussie scene partner Teresa Palmer, recently voted one of that country’s "Stars of Tomorrow" by Screen International. She was also great in her feature film debut 2:37, made by fellow Down Under 20-year-old Murali K. Thalluri. But that day-in-the-life movie was barely seen in North America, and Palmer’s work in The Grudge 2 was nothing to write Japan about.
But here, she’s back on track, touching the bases of Diane Lane earthiness and Katherine Heigl blinding blondness to imbue her Summer of 42-ish subplot with an incandescent glow. Hopefully, the draw of Radcliffe in his first non-Potter lead film role will put people in the seats, so they can marvel at the work of the today-star with the tomorrow-star. And the former should thank his lucky stars - or at least the casting director - for pairing him up with Palmer. Radcliife does a lot of solid work in December Boys, but when he follows Palmer’s narrative lead, it’s a whole different level of Daniel.
After December Boys, Palmer shot FATE (a.k.a. Ravenswood), a British noir that was being shopped around at this year’s Cannes Film Festival market. Even if it’s not very good, chances are Palmer is.
The most publicity Palmer has received, at least stateside, is for a role she won and then lost last summer. In Doug Liman’s 2008 sci-fi thriller Jumper, Rachel Bilson has her role and Hayden Christensen has Tom Sturridge’s. All the more vexing, for me at least, because that film would have brought Palmer together with the aforementioned Diane Lane. As it stands, Palmer has gone on to play Topher Grace’s Labor Day Weekend dream girl in the 2008 Universal comedy Kids in America; certainly not a bad consolation prize.
It all started for Palmer when 2:37 newbie Thuralli spotted a shot of her on a subway billboard and cast her without an audition as one of his university students. Now here she is, turning Harry Potter into a man. The 2:37 import DVD currently retails on Amazon U.S. for $108.06 (plus $2.98 shipping!), but if you happen to stumble upon it as a rental somewhere, it’s worth grabbing for the incestuous rape scene alone. I know, that sounds creepy, but if you watch it knowing this is Palmer’s first film, wow...
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