December Boys

"December Boys" (2007) is an Australian coming-of-age drama directed by Rod Hardy, available to watch online on iFILM. Daniel Radcliffe — stepping well outside Hogwarts in one of his first post-Potter leading roles — plays Maps, the oldest of four orphans who share a birthday month and years in an outback convent.

Every year the boys have watched younger kids get picked by families while their own odds quietly shrank. This summer the Reverend Mother sends the four on a seaside holiday, where they meet Teresa and Fearless, a couple ready to adopt — but only one child. The friendship that held through years of sharing a dormitory starts to fracture as each boy quietly manoeuvres for the chance. Maps is too busy falling in love for the first time to play the game as hard as the others.

Rod Hardy gives the film the slow pulse of an Australian summer — bleached coastlines, red dust, long silences. Radcliffe is understated and convincing, and the story earns its bittersweet ending honestly. Stream "December Boys" (2007) on iFILM.