Think of Susan Townsend's Adrian Mole.....add to his character a bit of the wisecracking Ellen Page from Juno and sprinkle with the seriousness of say a young Donnie Darko and you will have the slightly depressive,fifteen year old character of Oliver Tate. (Craig Roberts), a self obsessed Welsh teen living an ordinary life in the 1986 South Wales based film Submarine
.
Oliver has two worries in his young life....the first is his wish to sleep with his emotionally distant girlfriend Jordana (Yasmin Paige ) a girl who likes to watch occasional bullying of the school saddos and the odd bout of setting fire to his leg hair and the second is the potential affair his repressed mother (Sally Hawkins ) may be embarking on with new age, spiritualist Graham (Paddy Considine).
Director and writer Richard Ayoade (From tv's Mighty Boosh) has playfully used every trick in the film genre cookbook ( French New Wave visuals/ wisecracking voice overs/ and even the red coat from Don't look Now) and has crafted a hugely funny ( I guffawed several times in the near empty cinema which is a rare, rare event I can tell you) and refreshingly entertaining coming of age movie which has people of my age bouncing down the bittersweet nostalgia route as it recalls the secretive painful times of puberty.
Craig Roberts is a real find, he plays the self pitying Oliver with a dead pan sadness of say Bud Cort in Harold and Maud....and carries the film with a huge amount of confidence for someone so young.
I absolutely loved it
I wonder if it's out on DVD or is it a new film ?
ReplyDeleteI'll keep an eye out, sounds like a good 'un.
~Jo
hi john do you want dog cages as i see you said in a post carol cousin
ReplyDeleteof course carol!!
ReplyDeleteI hope it makes it to the States!
ReplyDeleteI fancied this too - must see if its still on at the Showroom. xxx
ReplyDeletehow much do you want dog cages?
ReplyDeleteFunny thing you should recommend a film....as today we have re-joined the our favourite video shop who carries everything. Maybe they will have this one shortly.....sounds like one we'd like.
ReplyDeleteFYI, Ellen Page was raised in Halifax and if this young actor is anything like her, then it's a 'no-brainer'.
After reading that - I hope we get to see it here in Oz. Nice to know I'm not alone in choosing movies which play to an empty theatre :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. I wonder if the movie is out over here in the states. I'll check. Loved The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo that you recommended,
ReplyDeleteSounds like a winner to me.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't say why it's called 'Submarine'.
ReplyDeletecro
ReplyDeletethere are several reference to being "underwater" in the narrative
it's a place of happiness for Oliver's father
How sad that the cinema was near empty John. Sounds a good film. Is it on general release? We have a nice little cinema quite near to us.
ReplyDeleteSounds fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI loved Juno.
I can't remember watching Adrian Mole.
Had a look at the trailer for this film and it does indeed look like an excellent film!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. I'm hoping I can get it on Lovefilm. You made it sound excellent.
ReplyDeleteI heard that it was good so good to hear it from the horses mouth (or pigs snout, or hens beak). You get the picture.
ReplyDeleteSubmarine sounds excellent. (I loved Juno too.) I doubt that it will make its way to NZ but I'll look out for the DVD. I loved Richard Ayoade in The IT Crowd.
ReplyDeleteKeeρ this going please, great jοb!
ReplyDeleteLook at my page - www.sfq-org.com