Stick to that Embling resolve. I admire the character, too.

When I saw FLIRTING for the first time, I was really impressed. Later when we went to Canberra, Australia to visit our daughter and son-in-law, they told me about THE YEAR MY VOICE BROKE -- Better than that, we drove over to Braidwood in New South Wales, where it had been filmed, and even had lunch in the “family-bar.” It was great to see all of this and then know the context when I was able to get a copy of the film on VHS. It seems to me to be a much darker film than FLIRTING, and harder to follow (for an American) because the Australian dialect was so much stronger than in the sequel. But it does illuminate more about the Danny Embling character with regards to his roots and to his adolescent discoveries about independence and sexuality.

I have only seen a few of Duigan’s other films, including ROMERO (1989), which was interesting, but a bit too didactic for my taste. He also made SIRENS (1994), which was widely distributed, and THE JOURNEY OF AUGUST KING (1995) with Thandie Newton again. FLIRTING remains my favorite.

Here is the web address for John Duigan on imbd.

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Duigan,+John