REVIEW: Son of Rambow [2008]

Rating: PG-13 | Runtime: 96 minutes
Release Date: April 4th, 2008 (UK) / May 2nd, 2028 (USA)
Studio: Optimum Releasing / Paramount Vantage
Director(s): Garth Jennings
Writer(s): Garth Jennings

I blame the parents.

If you’re in the mood for a story from the heart about friendship and identity while growing up in a world that’s at odds with your sensibilities and against what it is you want to be despite a need to conform, Son of Rambow fits the bill. Be aware, however, that this is a British film to its core with slow moments throughout in a bid to enhance the overall work. People actually walked out of my screening saying they were bored—it happens when you get a free movie pass and go without knowing anything about what you’re about to see.

I conversely had been anticipating Garth Jennings’ follow-up to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with baited breath, ready to be taken into an original world straight from his mind. Being one part of the dynamic duo Hammer & Tongs, I knew he’d have something up his sleeve a la Michel Gondry after watching his inventive music videos. This film allows him to step up and put his imagination out there for everyone to experience. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

Everything on-screen is authentic from the 80s aesthetic (soundtrack, costuming, and VHS camcorders) to the homemade quality of the amateur film young Will and Lee are crafting. When these kids go behind the lens and start filming, you won’t be able to remove the smile from your face. They act like they’re the best of friends and go through the good and bad of the stigma that “blood-brothers” entails. Their interactions help the film’s success because that bond is so strong.

When two outsiders find each other amidst the carnage that is middle school, that connection is a hard thing to break regardless of their own differences. Finally able to live life knowing there’s someone else to share in the fun is a drug that won’t be kicked easily, no matter what family and school says. The more people that want you to separate, the more you will see that what you have together is real. No one has the right to end it but you.

Pairing a boy from an Amish-like upbringing in the “Brethren” mix with the class miscreant and bully is ripe for laughter and fun. From the onset we’re privy to the clash of their cultures. Lee Carter is a mischievous delinquent attempting to use Will Proudfoot as his slave and stuntman for the movie he’s trying to enter into a contest inspired by First Blood. With his parents gone and a brother who uses him like a servant, Lee needs this in order to overcome life’s hardships. It often happens that someone being bullied ultimately becomes a bully himself. This is the only life Lee knows.

Blackmailing Will into being his actor for some really crazy stunts (compiled in a wonderful montage) may play to his needs, but it plays to this sheltered boy’s as well. Will finally has an excuse to let his imagination run free from the pages of his drawing books and the walls of the bathroom stall. In a culture that’s not allowed to watch TV, making a movie himself proves a strong temptation. When he shows up at Carter’s door in full Rambo garb, you know exactly what’s coming next. Lee curses under his breath because he sees he doesn’t know what he has gotten himself into. Never in a million years did he think this boy would end up being the one person on earth he could count on.

At the core of the story is the fact that these outsiders can discover that being themselves is okay. Outcasts their entire lives, embracing who they are finally transforms them into being kids others want to befriend. That popularity goes to their heads as crazy characters come into the fold to risk destroying all they’ve built, but it’s the strength within them that will win out in the end. Their rapport is crucial to this and Bill Milner (Will) and Will Poulter (Lee) are fantastic.

I don’t know how much is acting or just intuitively going where the script takes them, but it’s a delight. How they switch from being so young and natural behind the camera yet so self-conscious and hammy in front of it (despite being in front of a real camera the whole times) blows my mind. Milner is the naïve boy raised to be weary of the outside world—always cheery and completely gullible. He doesn’t quite know what to do with this taste of fame. Poulter, on the other hand, is a smart-mouth kid building a stone façade to hide what he really feels. His one-liners are priceless and help make him the movie’s shining star.

I’d be remiss not to mention the wonderful supporting cast and Jennings’ directing too. His use of animation integrates perfectly and the mix of watching what’s happening alongside how it was filmed on the boys’ camera is well orchestrated. As for the actors—a lot is going on around these burgeoning filmmakers. Between cliques at school and the arrival of French exchange students, their small world is ever-changing.

Jules Sitruk’s Didier is amazing at oozing French confidence and exotic chic despite what we find out about his true nature. This kid is like Michael Jackson (still a good thing in the 80s), so girls and boys alike flock to him. The teachers, old folks, and even Lee’s brother help add to the fun too, but it’s seeing the finished short that truly leaves an indelible mark as the culmination of all their hard work. Their movie encompasses everything to permanently etch the bonds forged and repaired to videotape.

Feel good movie of the year? Hands down.