Submarine - Review

The geek shall inherit, indeed. Richard Ayoade proves there’s more to him than playing one of the most loveable nerds in comedy* with his directorial debut Submarine, from his own screenplay. Ben Stiller executive produces and pops up in a literally-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo.

Set in a Welsh coastal town in the 1980s, Submarine is the very, very funny, touching and nicely-observed coming of age story of Oliver Tate, brilliantly played by Craig Roberts in what I only hesitate to call a star-making turn as it’s such an over-used description. Oliver is a faintly creepy and endearingly awkward kid with illusions of grandeur, prone to fantasising about the overblown outpouring of grief that would come after his death, or a film crew following him around recording his every move. He has a “word of the day”. “I don’t know what I am yet”, he states, after listing the affectations he had tried to adopt (pipes, coin tossing, staring at the horizon, brief hat phase). Under Ayoade’s direction, Oliver is more than a stock “quirky outsider” figure, becoming a character you do care about, despite his self-obsessive traits.

The plot centres on his romantic pursuit of casually cruel yet vulnerable pyromaniac Jordana (“She’s marginally unpopular, thus increasing the likelihood of a romance between us”), and saving his parents’ marriage (“They don’t even row, they just have discussions”) by preventing his mum from falling back into the arms of a new-age guru old flame. The plots strands appear as chapters marked by hilariously over-wrought dramatic music, which matches Oliver’s teenage sense of self-importance perfectly. As good as Craig Roberts is, it seems almost unfair to single him out when the supporting cast is, without exception, fantastic – Noah Taylor is a highlight as Oliver’s tragicomic dad, while there are great turns from Sally Hawkins and Paddy Considine too.

The cherry on top is the gorgeous soundtrack of original songs by Alex Turner; Piledriver Waltz in particular is well worth a listen. Submarine gets its German release this week and is already available on DVD in the UK. It is my favourite film of 2011 and I cannot recommend it highly enough.



*Alright, maybe I am just looking for excuses to link to clips of The IT Crowd now.

CineCologne – 4 festivals in one

This month brings a treat for film fans to brighten up the darker, increasingly colder November days. Under the CineCologne umbrella, four individual mini-festivals are taking place in the city throughout the month. Kicking off proceedings this week are Soundtrack Cologne and Exposed. The former focuses on film music, with screenings of music documentaries and a workshop and concert featuring Scottish composer Patrick Doyle, while Exposed showcases films by first-time directors. GOF is most excited about the European First Films category, which features the directorial debut from the very talented Richard Ayoade (until now best known and loved as the ultimate geek, Moss, in The IT Crowd), Submarine. This film will get its own blog in the very near future, and it’s certainly one of the festival highlights. Other Exposed categories include debut films focusing on Cologne itself and country-of-the-moment Greece, while this festival draws to a close – unfortunately on Sunday already – with a silent movie “Historic Debut”.

Part 3 arrives next weekend, in the shape of Unlimited: four days of European short films, followed at the end of the month by Cinepänz, the children’s film festival. Anyone expecting a week of talking cartoon animals and storybook characters is in for a surprise however, as the programme offers a wide range of films, some tackling weightier issues such as teenage transsexuals (Romeos) and parental mental illness (Überschnappt – "Gone Bananas").

While some of the screenings and events require accreditation, there’s still plenty on offer for film fans in and around Cologne over the next few weeks.

Really not sure about the promo trailer for the event though – has GOF missed a trick or is this just...bizarre?