[DVD Review (R2)] SON OF RAMBOW
My compadre in geekness, Wyverex, wrote a nothing short of glowing review of this very film which you can find here. Okay, so he only give it four and a half “popcorns” so it was a little short of glowing! I suggest you check it out as a companion piece to my own opinion on this film. Which you’re going to read now. Right here. So you don’t need to click anywhere!
Now don’t get me wrong, a lot of what Wyverex has written in his review is quite spot on - Son of Rambow is a lovely, sweet movie with two central performances that will warm you heart and if you’re too cold to have a heart these performances will nip out and buy you one AND carry out the relevant operation to install it in you. Behind these performances are some wonderful supporting turns, most deserved of mention is Jessica Hynes (nee Stephenson).
The plot, fully explained in Wyverex’s review, is a lovely warm tale of friendship in the 80s by way of movie-love - specifically the love of Stallone’s First Blood. And, if you had to closely associate it to another movie in terms of content and storytelling, it would be Michael Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind; a film I didn’t particularly adore because I felt its attempts to be ”quirky” got in the way of just telling the story.
Which is a very valid criticism I’d make of Son of Rambow.
I have to preface any further criticism with an attempt to reconfirm just how utterly wonderful the two child performances are within Son of Rambow. Every single emotional arc from comedy through to drama, and everything in between, is covered here and done to a standard that would make many a grown established actor shudder with jealousy. Furthermore, anyone who was a “child of the 80s” is going to watch this with an enormous nostalgic grin on their face until their cheeks ache. The capturing of that decade and all that was good AND bad about it is pitch-perfect. But…
When I watch a film, in order for that film to attain a level of perfection in my mind, every thing has to balance. This is just my own personal prediliction, mind you. Everything has to complement each other perfectly and, at least during the course of the film’s running time, I don’t ever want to feel as if I’m “watching a film”. I want to be in the story. I want to be alongside the characters in whatever event they are involved in. I never got that with Son of Rambow. No matter how much I wanted it. And believe me I wanted it badly!
Just like he did with The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (although that film had more flaws then just this gripe), Garth Jennings puts on a show of what he considers to be unique and inventive directorial flourishes that are designed for no other reason then to show off, whilst bellowing at his actors “Come with me! Follow me!” Son of Rambow suffers because Jennings keeps interrupting a really rather lovely story, really rather brilliantly performed, with visuals that take you out of the moment and fantasy sequences that didn’t work for me at all.
Midway through the second act nigh on everything appeared to be a distraction from the story itself. I found myself losing interest because subplot after subplot was introduced on top of this fantastic little “underdog” story and Jennings didn’t seem interested in balancing any of them properly. Only using them as another springboard for more quirky visuals.
As much as Edgar Wright annoys the fuck out of me with his rampant egotism these days, no one can question that his directorial skills are pitched perfect to the story at hand in his films. Under his capable control Son of Rambow could have been a sublime classic. For me though, it’s a really lovely little film which, in the hands of its director, is shamefully not given the chance to breathe fully as it should.
Related Posts:
- [BLU-RAY Review] SON OF RAMBOW
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- [Movie Review] THE KITE RUNNER
- [DVD REVIEW (R2)] THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
- [Movie Review] WALL-E
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