|
Submarine
| Released |
18 March 2011 |
| Director |
Richard Ayoade |
Starring
|
Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine |
| Writer(s) |
Richard Ayoade |
Producer(s)
|
Mary Burke, Mark Herbert, Andy Stebbing |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
94 minutes |
| Genre |
Comedy, drama |
| Rating |
15A |
|
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Exceptional in the ‘80s.
Richard Ayoade is the English comedic actor best known for playing Moss in the popular Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd. He’s also a regular on The Mighty Boosh and has directed music videos for the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Vampire Weekend and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. So with this CV, it’s no wonder that his first feature as a director was eagerly anticipated.
He has adapted Joe Dunthorne’s 2008 book, a coming of age tale set in Swansea in the ‘80s. Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is a fifteen-year-old schoolboy who’s a bit too weird to be called a geek. He’s routinely bullied at school and copes by inventing his own little world in his head where he’s a cool, well-liked, literary genius. His two obsessions are to lose his virginity before his next birthday and to heal the widening rift he sees developing between his parents (Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor).
He makes some progress with his first ambition when he sets his sights on Jordana (Yasmin Paige). Jordana is a spiky character who takes some wooing but eventually she falls for his odd charms. They begin a sweet if somewhat strange courtship largely based around their mutual love of petty arson.
His parents’ marital problems take a turn for the worse though when Graham (Paddy Considine), an old flame of his mother’s, moves into a nearby house. Graham is a new-age mystic and life coach and Oliver takes an instant dislike to ‘the hippy-looking twonk’. Oliver feels his father is far too mild-mannered to fight for his wife so he tries to interfere to bring his parents closer, with largely disastrous results.
The quirky ‘coming of age’ film has been done to death at this stage, so does this have something different to offer? Well mainly yes. The format of the film isn’t anything new, but the tone is more darkly, dryly humorous than normal. In many ways it reminds you of Rushmore, with its not particularly sympathetic protagonist and its off-kilter humour.
Craig Roberts is excellent as Oliver, a very funny performance that walks a fine line between sweetly vulnerable and downright creepy. The rapid-fire dialogue between him and Yasmin Paige (also very good) is very funny, although at times a little hard to understand.
There’s excellent support from Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor as the parents. Australian actor Taylor, who made his name playing the odd kid in films like The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting, plays his father with a wonderfully restrained comic timing. Hawkins is also on fine form as the mother with a horrendous eighties haircut who’s desperately looking for some excitement in her life. Paddy Considine has a lot of fun as the new-age mystic half-wit complete with leather pants and a spiky mullet. And Alex Turner, his old mate from Artic Monkeys, contributes five original songs, which nicely suit the mood.
In terms of the film’s design it perfectly recaptures the staid dullness of growing up in the ‘80s. Like the humour in The Mighty Boosh it’s happy to mix some surreal moments with fairly basic schoolboy humour to very amusing effect. It loses its way somewhat towards the end but overall this is a funny and touching debut from Ayoade and his young cast.
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Jim O’Connor |
