Dir Richard Ayoade, 97 mins, UK/USA, 2010
Cast: Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor,Paddy Consadine
Review by Matthew Rodgers
Anyone familiar with Richard Ayoade’s esoteric personality will see the I.T. Crowd star’s imprint all over this charmingly delicate little coming-of-age drama, and possibly be surprised at the depth behind the Wes Anderson style eccentricity.
This is a simple tale of a young boy’s first crush, and by definition that negates the use of the word “simple”, because for 15 year old Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) the world is viewed through an obscure filter of fantasy, introversion, and a self inflicted social inadequacy. In short, he is a representation of most 15 year old puberty stricken boys.
As well as controlling his own burgeoning hormones, Oliver has the duel dilemma of intervening in his parents faltering nuptials. His father (Noah Taylor), is much like him, unable to express himself and seemingly on the verge of alcoholism, his mother (Sally Hawkins) seeks excitement in her sterile life and the return of an old flame in the shape of a mullet adorned love guru (Paddy Consadine) offers her a temptation that Oliver becomes all too aware of.
What makes Submarine work is the perfect balance struck between the adolescent travails of Oliver’s heartfelt pursuit of Jordana (Yasmin Paige) and the all too real problems of his home life. Both are pitched perfectly and the tone is never jarring. Oliver’s perspective is filtered through his own fertile imagination – giving DOP style instructions about the way the film would be directed had this been the movie of his life – that is then juxtaposed with his own naivety about his parents’ own troubles. His fantastical outlook can be at once endearing and then understandably heartbreaking, because he cannot understand the complexities of the grown-up life he is so desperate to embark upon.
The movie is a series of components that come together to form a wonderful whole. The script, at times whimsical and with a central character that could prove hard to like (echoes of Wes Anderson again), includes some lovely lines, a favourite of which was “her mouth tasted of milk, polo mints, and Dunhill” after the young lovers exchange their first kiss. It’s just one example of how achingly real Ayoade’s story is, because that’s exactly how a teenage boy would react to such an exchange.
And then there’s the wonderful acting ensemble that is headed up by a group of convincing young performers completely at ease with some of the more weighty aspects of the story. Not surprising when they have the combined talents on hand from which to learn of Hawkins – wonderful as the repressed matriarch – Taylor, and Consadine, hamming it up brilliantly as the leather pant wearing mystic.
A special mention must also go to the Alex Turner created soundtrack, which marries so perfectly with the film’s themes and style that it evokes further emotion from an already dramatically involving and poignantly funny movie, and one that signals the arrival of another young, talented filmmaker in Richard Ayoade.
