Being a kid can really suck. Parents are annoying. Teachers are stupid. Ordinary life is dull as hell. Thank goodness for our imaginations then – the one place where we rule above all others. It’s the place Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) can go to see his dead father again and find an action-packed life beyond the strict religious rules of his family. In Son Of Rambow, we get to go along for the ride.
Director Garth Jennings grew up in suburban England in the eighties, playing with handycams and mainlining the first wave of high-concept blockbusters. As a result, this is a perfectly observed snapshot of those times – from the rows of cinemagoers puffing on fags while the ‘no smoking’ sign glows redundantly, to the ghastly fashions on display in the sixth form common room. But this is not just an exercise in laughing at pixie boots and massive mobile phones – it’s a touching story of family loyalty, faith, friendship and the unbridled creativity of the young.
The kids in the film are terrific, especially Will Poulter playing Lee Carter as a sharp-witted Dennis The Menace type who secretly just wants someone to be there for him. Both leads manage to get the mix of wide-eyed vivacity and broken home melancholy just about right. There are big laughs to be had too – the filming sessions throw up all sorts of slapstick mishaps and misadventures for the unwitting Will.
It borrows some of its visual style from Michel Gondry’s The Science Of Sleep and indeed shares its VHS-era nostalgia with his Be Kind Rewind, but Son Of Rambow is still a deeply personal little comedy with an identity of its own. And if you’re old enough to remember when watching a warped, fuzzy tape of Red Heat or Cobra was an unrivalled thrill, this will take you right back.
