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 In cinemas now [PG]
Director: Garth Jennings
Runtime: 96mins
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy was the first foray into feature film for music video production duo Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (Hammer & Tongs). Unfortunately in a lot of peoples’ opinion, it was a bit of a letdown. However subsequent viewings on television have led me to believe that the movie has actually aged quite well despite its shortcomings.
At least now that they’ve gotten their awkward first film out of the way, you could almost say that Son Of Rambow is their Eternal Sunshine, except this movie is probably more like Be Kind Rewind, which is not a bad thing.
Set in the ‘80s, young Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is an unfortunate member of the Brethren, a religious group that rejects all forms of technology. Consequently he has to sit out a documentary that is being played in his classroom. This in turn enables him to meet the school bully, Lee Carter (Will Poulter), who has been kicked out of the classroom and made to wait in the same hallway. Through a series of events, Lee manipulates Will into coming home with him so that he can use him to take part in the dangerous stunts he is shooting on VHS for a young filmmakers competition. While there Will watches a bootlegged copy of First Blood, which sets the two boys upon a literal collision course to becoming amateur filmmakers of a Rambo sequel.
Once you get past any natural dislike for child actors you can really start to believe in the friendship the pair develop as they make their movie. This film is completely anchored by the two main performances of Milner, who embodies the innocent quality of his character, and Poulter, who has the ferocity of a 30 year-old football hooligan stuck in an 11 year-old’s body. Both Milner and Poulter are especially convincing in their dramatic scenes, which serve to remind people why primary school could have been some of the worst years of our lives, especially when nobody likes you. This reality is missing from a few children’s movies, and often dealt with in an unconvincing way.
There is a wonderful supporting cast of characters – such as the disturbingly gorgeous French exchange student Didier Revol, who can make you feel instantly 35 even if you’re only 23. Jessica Stevenson (who plays Daisy in Spaced) makes a great dramatic turn as Will’s religious Mother. The jokes work on two levels, as a straight-up school comedy and as an analogous look into the perils of fame and friendship in the movie industry.
The only real downside to this film is coming out of it and wondering why your own childhood wasn’t nearly as creative or productive as that of the two main characters. Also mildly annoying is the whole ‘child actors who seem wise beyond their years’ type of dialogue you get with the likes of Haley Joel and Dakota Fanning.
I should mention that Hammer & Tongs were also responsible for the much loved milk carton video clip to Blur’s Coffee & TV, so you owe it to them to see this movie.
****
ELWOOD LEE
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