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.