I recently saw this at the 2008 Palm Springs International Short Fest. This comedy-drama is a story about a nine year old African boy, Joseph (Olutunji Ebun-Cole who has fled a war-torn nation and is experiencing his first day of school in Ireland and the natural difficulties of an outsider fitting in. Norma Sheahan is the teacher keeping order, Sinead Maguire is Hazel O'Hara the sympathetic classmate, and Fionn O'Shea and Simon O'Driscall are Seth Quinn and Christian Kelly the classroom bullies. This award winning short is the third short from writer/director Stephanie Green. Green adapted the story from the short story New Boy by novelist Roddy Doyle, best known for The Commitments, from his new book The Deportees and Other Stories. The story is told with flashbacks of Joseph's schooling in Africa. This is a good film with nice performances from the child actors and exasperated teacher and the central story moves along at a fast pace that the flashback scenes don't slow down resulting in an even balanced film. I would give this a 7.0 out of 10 and recommend it.
13 Reviews
A very good film but probably not the winner for 2009.
planktonrules7 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Today I went with three friends to a special showing of all the films nominated for the 2009 Oscar for Best Live Action Short. Oddly, the four of us were in pretty much agreement about the films. Our pick for best of the nominees was PIG ("Grisen"), though ON THE LINE ("Auf der Strecke") was a very good film and is nearly as deserving of the award. We predicted that TOYLAND ("Spielzeugland"), however, will win the award because it's the sort of the film the Academy tends to like AND because PIG might ruffle some feathers because it is not "politically correct". We all assumed that NEW BOY was probably the least likely of the five nominees to win, though we all agreed that it was still a good film. I'll update this review after the awards are given.
NEW BOY is a simple tale about a young child who begins a new school in a new land. Although Joseph was raised in Africa, he is now beginning school in Ireland--talk about culture shock! Sadly, like what often happens, a bully wants to beat him up simply because he's new. I was happy to see that the fact that the kid was Black and African wasn't used as the reasoning for the bully--this would have been too easy and would have lost much of its universality.
Later, after there is a fight between Joseph, the bully and one of the bully's toadies, the teacher is angry and yells at the three. This is obviously unjust because Joseph was simply defending himself. When a nice girl in the class tries to explain this to the teacher, the lady dismisses the girl--and is unwilling to do the right thing. This leads to some foul but fitting language and the final scene shows the three kids having a good laugh together--and you assume this commonality is a sign of good things to come.
Interesting and technically done, this is well worth seeing. I have no complaints, just the observation that of the four of us who watched the film, all four liked NEW BOY but also felt it was the least of the five nominees.
UPDATE: It's official, TOYLAND is the winner. This didn't surprise me at all and it was well deserving of the award, though I was still pulling for PIG to take the honors.
NEW BOY is a simple tale about a young child who begins a new school in a new land. Although Joseph was raised in Africa, he is now beginning school in Ireland--talk about culture shock! Sadly, like what often happens, a bully wants to beat him up simply because he's new. I was happy to see that the fact that the kid was Black and African wasn't used as the reasoning for the bully--this would have been too easy and would have lost much of its universality.
Later, after there is a fight between Joseph, the bully and one of the bully's toadies, the teacher is angry and yells at the three. This is obviously unjust because Joseph was simply defending himself. When a nice girl in the class tries to explain this to the teacher, the lady dismisses the girl--and is unwilling to do the right thing. This leads to some foul but fitting language and the final scene shows the three kids having a good laugh together--and you assume this commonality is a sign of good things to come.
Interesting and technically done, this is well worth seeing. I have no complaints, just the observation that of the four of us who watched the film, all four liked NEW BOY but also felt it was the least of the five nominees.
UPDATE: It's official, TOYLAND is the winner. This didn't surprise me at all and it was well deserving of the award, though I was still pulling for PIG to take the honors.
Friendship
0000k171 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The film genre of 'New Boy ' is short drama. It was made in 2007. An African boy changes schools in Ireland. Some classmates make fun of the boy and shout abusive language. What will happen? I was excited to see what kind of ending it would be, and it was good that the relationship between the boy who is bullying and the African boy gradually changed through things they can only do in school life, such as being scolded by the teacher and being made to stand in a hallway. It is worth watching the film because discrimination is a serious problem we face and have to solve it. When I watch the film, I think about this problem again. If I were a boy, I would feel sad and don't want to go to school. In order to eliminate such a thing, the film suggests that people are not their appearance but their character.
touching
Kirpianuscus29 January 2021
A Bit Too Obvious
Theo Robertson8 March 2014
Joseph a new arrival at a school in Ireland has his first day in class and finds himself a target for bullying
Another Oscar nominated short but not one I've been blown away with . I should quickly add however that some of the shorts I've been treated to have been genuinely outstanding and have really raised the bar of my expectations . There's not much wrong with NEW BOY in itself just that it pales slightly in comparison with some others
Based upon a short story by Roddy Doyle it has a somewhat fractured storyline where it cuts from Rwanda in the very near recent past to contemporary Ireland . Where as some shorts draw you in and then twist your expectations 360 degrees this is one starts off hard edged and gritty then perhaps predictably feels the need to give the audience a nice warm feeling by the end which you can probably see coming as I did and it's a little bit too obvious . Despite it does have a trump card in the shape of Olutunji Ebun Cole and it's not often you see a child actor carry a film who hardly has a word of dialogue to speak . In fact considering nearly all the cast are child actors and if you feel like strangling them that's because you're supposed to want to strangle them so unlike some child actors they universally play their parts well
Another Oscar nominated short but not one I've been blown away with . I should quickly add however that some of the shorts I've been treated to have been genuinely outstanding and have really raised the bar of my expectations . There's not much wrong with NEW BOY in itself just that it pales slightly in comparison with some others
Based upon a short story by Roddy Doyle it has a somewhat fractured storyline where it cuts from Rwanda in the very near recent past to contemporary Ireland . Where as some shorts draw you in and then twist your expectations 360 degrees this is one starts off hard edged and gritty then perhaps predictably feels the need to give the audience a nice warm feeling by the end which you can probably see coming as I did and it's a little bit too obvious . Despite it does have a trump card in the shape of Olutunji Ebun Cole and it's not often you see a child actor carry a film who hardly has a word of dialogue to speak . In fact considering nearly all the cast are child actors and if you feel like strangling them that's because you're supposed to want to strangle them so unlike some child actors they universally play their parts well
The ending surprised me
cyrenaica15 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I've promised myself I'm going to watch every Oscar nominated short film I can find.
The Plot (3 / 5).
The story is a bit cliché in some aspects (bullying the new kid in class, teacher oblivious, etc) but the flashback scenes work very well. I was not expecting the ending to be what it was, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The Acting (3 / 5) The acting in this is decent, none of the young actors come across as Laurence Olivier in his prime, but they don't look it's their first rodeo either. Script is good, written at the level you would expect from children this age.
The first 'short' on my journey to watch as many Oscar nominated shorts as I can. As they're all Oscar nominated, somebody must have thought there was some good in them.
The Plot (3 / 5).
The story is a bit cliché in some aspects (bullying the new kid in class, teacher oblivious, etc) but the flashback scenes work very well. I was not expecting the ending to be what it was, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The Acting (3 / 5) The acting in this is decent, none of the young actors come across as Laurence Olivier in his prime, but they don't look it's their first rodeo either. Script is good, written at the level you would expect from children this age.
The first 'short' on my journey to watch as many Oscar nominated shorts as I can. As they're all Oscar nominated, somebody must have thought there was some good in them.
we've all been through things
lee_eisenberg26 March 2016
One of 2007's nominees for Best Live Action Short Film depicts the struggles of a new student from an unidentified country in Africa to adjust to school in Ireland. The movie shows the contrast between his school life in his native country (very talkative until tragedy strikes) and his school life in Ireland, where the other students tease him, causing him not to talk much. I wouldn't call "New Boy" a masterpiece, but I liked the contrast that it showed. I guess that the different treatment of him by different students in Ireland was sort of a cliché, but the movie plays it out well. Although I haven't read any of Roddy Doyle's work, I've liked the film adaptations of his work that I've seen (aside from this one, there's "The Commitments", "The Snapper" and "The Van"). Worth seeing.
Rooting for The Kids
moviechick10107 November 2010
Director Steph Green's "Newboy" is a classic new-kid-on-the-block, fish-out-of-water narrative that comes alive through Cinematographer PJ Dillon's clean camera work and scene set-ups that literally catches both the vibrant warmth of Joseph's African homeland (and yet set against a chilling coldness of another sort) and the cold, grayness of Ireland (and yet a peculiar kind of warmth and care) which underscores the metaphor of an initial cultural clash. The expressiveness and humor of the brilliant and mainly child actors is stellar and it's they who will charm you and warm your heart.
Given the timelessness of the narrative (the success of the remake of "The Karate Kid" starring Jaden Smith comes to mind) this sort of 11 min. short should be the appetizer to films at the cinema for films geared to children, adults and those on their way to adulthood. This would be especially true in North American cinemas where it's difficult for films outside of certain cities to see great little films from overseas.
moviechick1010
Given the timelessness of the narrative (the success of the remake of "The Karate Kid" starring Jaden Smith comes to mind) this sort of 11 min. short should be the appetizer to films at the cinema for films geared to children, adults and those on their way to adulthood. This would be especially true in North American cinemas where it's difficult for films outside of certain cities to see great little films from overseas.
moviechick1010
The characters make it work
Horst_In_Translation19 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Steph Green's "New Boy" is an 11.5-minute live action short film from almost 10 years ago that was nominated for an Oscar and won many awards all over the Planet, probably because of its multi-cultural background. It is about a young African boy and his first day at an Irish school. In flashbacks, we see what happened at his school in Africa and this is where the film tries to deliver from a dramatic perspective. But it only does to some extent, even if it tries so hard. It adds a bit of relevance to the film, but the heart and soul of the movie are the scenes in the now, mostly because the kids and her teacher are very entertaining to watch in their interactions and the ending is also an uplifting one, which it certainly would not have been if it had been about the past. This is why I would almost classify this film as much of a comedy than a drama, even if there are some very serious parts about it, especially one scene in the past involving the boy's father. Overall, I give this one a positive verdict, even if I must say that the awards attention may have been a bit too much. It's good, but not great. Recommended.
After the foes are gone
minamiakiiku9 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"New Boy" is a 2007 short film directed by Steph Green. This portrays a black boy's school days when he transfers to a school in Ireland from one in a rural area. I was impressed with how well-organized the structure of the whole story is. Throughout the story, though the outline is the same, we can find the marked contrast in portrayal between his previous school days and current ones. For example, the boy used to describe himself as 'a hero' with a smile, but now he is called 'live-aid' and teased by a few classmates and he frowns. The boy's past and present are associated effectively at several points, which enables me to find easily the difference between them and imagine his feeling. Moreover, what was gripping was the ending because I thought it's quite interesting that the two enemies, armed men and a female teacher, who appeared in his life bring a completely different result to him. Also, I felt so glad that the boy can share a funny joke with his peers. The thought-provoking story, great presentation and the protagonists' charming performances will fascinate you. So I recommend it.
New Boy
CinemaSerf21 March 2024
When "Joseph" (Ulutunji Ebun-Cole) arrives at his new Irish junior school, he is immediately reminded of his school at home (somewhere in Africa) and of the trauma that he experienced there that rather dwarves the petty bullying that he is soon experiencing from two of his classmates. Luckily, the young "Hazel" (Sinead Maguire) takes a bit of a shine to their new boy and her behaviour might just offer a conduit for all to move past their initial hostilities and share a laugh. Aside from anything else, it makes you remember that being a primary school teacher is no walk in the park, but mostly it's a reminder that it's not always the easiest path to make friends - picking fights is often simpler. The kids do quite well here, with a minimum of dialogue, and I did quite enjoy the simplicity of the story.
Good balance, sad and happy!
kamamitochan24 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This short film is a drama about an African boy, Joseph, who leaves his hometown and starts at a new school in Ireland. During the class, he gets messed with by two boys. As he goes about his day at his new school, he looks back on his past and feels the cultural differences.... In my opinion, I'm not sure but I think this film conveys the difficulty of entering a new environment for the first time to us. In addition, the point I should focus on is the comparison between the past and the present. In this film, the past scene of local school life and the present scene of school life in a different country are compared, so these scenes show the movement of Joseph's mind. Furthermore, the last scene is nice, because Joseph and two boys who are made to stand in the hallway by the teacher eventually laugh with each other. This story isn't a sad scene all the time, so it has a good balance, so it's worth seeing!
Moving
yurude23 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a drama about a boy. One day, a black boy come to the classroom as a transfer student. There are some classmates who help him but others who harass him. While taking math class, he remembers his experience in his home country.
The theme of this film is apparent, which is discrimination. We can see that from most of scenes, and even characters are saying swear words that insult him. For example, there is a scene that a boy says to his teacher that the black boy should sit next to a black girl. In this scene, we can see that they are categorizing those black students in one group by their skin.
In addition to this main theme, there are also implied themes, such as refugees, dictatorship and war. This is implied through scenes of his father, who is a teacher. I think this movie is showing important expressions without dialogue, just by showing them visually. This is a great film.
The theme of this film is apparent, which is discrimination. We can see that from most of scenes, and even characters are saying swear words that insult him. For example, there is a scene that a boy says to his teacher that the black boy should sit next to a black girl. In this scene, we can see that they are categorizing those black students in one group by their skin.
In addition to this main theme, there are also implied themes, such as refugees, dictatorship and war. This is implied through scenes of his father, who is a teacher. I think this movie is showing important expressions without dialogue, just by showing them visually. This is a great film.
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