Son of Rambow

The Eighties: Ten year old Will Proudfoot belongs to the Plymouth Brethren, a religious community that forbids devilish inventions such as music and TV. Twelve year old Lee Carter is the quintessential school bully, naughty towards the outer world but frail inside.

When a wide-eyed Will catches a glimpse of a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood at Lee’s house, the two enthusiastically decide to make their own film about… the son of “Rambow”. Lee directs, Will stars in the title role. Their friendship is soon put to the test by French heartthrob Didier, a Sixth Form exchange student who tries to make Son Of Rambow his own stairway to stardom. Besides, the Brethren wants to smother Will’s passion for cinema and Lee’s family situation gets harder and harder to bear.

Take the nostalgia of This Is England, add the guerrilla meta-cinema of Be Kind Rewind, pepper with some odd-couple humour and a teardrop of coming-of-age drama. Blend together. Here’s the formula for the perfect indie flick aimed at a thirty-something, oh-so-cool, hyphen-addict audience. ,
That is, director  Garth Jennings’ and producer Nick Goldsmith’s contemporaries and buddies. Every frame in Son Of Rambow (the real one, not the kids’) screams how much fun the two had, and there lies the strength of the film: its freshness. Or is it just cunning? Undoubtedly, this film leaves the audience smiling and feeling good, but it flows so evenly that no twist in the script represents a real surprise.
Everything is in its right place, even the two young leads are wonderfully cast – but where’s the thrill?

Vera Brozzoni

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