The main reason I could recommend this movie to anyone I know is that it’s beautiful to look at. There’s definitely a selfish pleasure in seeing South Australia captured on the big screen and The Boys Are Back will make you feel that you’ve somehow failed to notice the sunburnt grandeur of your own backyard. I’ve always preferred movies about extraordinary people and events so it was with some surprise that I found myself quite moved by The Boys Are Back, because it’s very much a film about real people and real families.

Far from being plot driven I found myself drawn in as the characters unfolded with an authenticity that caught me off guard. The story of male single parenthood, a veritable minefield of clichés and sentimentality, manages to avoid both. But most pleasing of all was the avoidance of validating the tale with a romantic conclusion. The result is real and adult without being pretentiously or convoluted  - Peter