A very charming boarding school/coming of age tale. Noah Taylor, who’d later do a brilliant Hitler in the underrated film Max, is the sagacious and moody teen who gets beat up, reads Sartre and in a whirlwind romance with the patrician Ugandan exchange student. Thandie Newton, an actress I’ve never given much thought to before, is absolutely fantastic in this, the role that deservedly launched her career. A pre-plastic surgery Nicole Kidman pops up also, as well as a young Naomi Watts. If you like romantic movies, you’ll go bananas for this one.
