Submarine- Review

A directed working coming from Richard Ayoade who is known for his funny presence on the IT Crowd, I expected this film to have more laughs involved. While it wasn't all fun and games, Submarine certainly aimed at tending to other needs of the audience and worked to deliver a direct, to-the-point perspective on what life as a teenager with a magnitude of thoughts, feelings and problems sees and experiences on the daily.

Aside from spoiler-free reviews with minimal information, I knew that this film had been highly regarded by at least 90% of viewers and that it featured upcoming and emerging new talents.

In a story-like narration, Oliver Tate acknowledges his unclear and otherwise unpopular social standing amongst his peers and the helplessness he feels between his parents' declining marriage. With his own mental bucket list, Oliver sets out to achieve certain things that may help him progress on his journey for popularity and to rekindle the relationship between his mother and father.

The actors chosen for this particular film were a reasonable choice. Unlike sticking to stereotypical romance clichés in genre, the actors involved worked their way around this to deliver more relatable circumstances. There's no sappy skipping on the shore, mushy display of emotions or corny execution of affection. Instead, it appears how most teenage romances should be; awkward, confusing and ever so slightly stressful.

Craig Roberts played the role of Oliver, a fifteen year old boy with a plan. Like most average schoolboys, he has the occasional friend and observes potential holes in the schooling system to somehow land himself on the popularity hierarchy. For someone I haven't seen outside of supporting and minor roles, Craig did a good job at consistently remaining in the spotlight and not fading away in amongst the cinematography and style. It was also something different for me to see this time too, as the last time I really noticed Craig was during his time on the set of Young Dracula.

Yasmin Paige played the role of Jordana Bevan, an seemingly ordinary girl who catches the eye of Oliver. I'm not sure whether it was the overall goal or not, but I found Jordana as a character to be rather uninspiring and the desperation to be edgy. Her behaviour in the second half of the film makes more sense in that regard but for the first half, she just felt too dry to be entertaining in the very least. The best kind of a fun this girl can have is singeing her male companion's leg hair.

I really appreciated the design and style of the film. It becomes evident that the film has been set in the '80s as there's an advertised poster for Crocodile Dundee and the use of the original line of Polaroid cameras. Not only that, but setting out the movie in novel elements such as 'prologue' and 'epilogue.' I think this film is very important for film study and should be used as a reference

for drama classes. There are various moments where freeze frames are used, many opportunities to focus on building a character by observation and the use of verbal and non-verbal acting.

I've said before in another review, Alex Turner/ Arctic Monkeys are not entirely my cup of tea, yet it just seemed to work so well for the film's soundtrack. I can't explain it, but there's just some kind of connection between Craig Roberts and Alex Turner's music that's really effective.

The reason for me not being amongst those who have rated this film so highly is because I just didn't feel as though it appealed to me on all levels. The first half of the film was more enjoyable than the second half in my honest opinion, but all in all the film just seemed to be a little too slow moving and a tad bit uninteresting at times. I will say again, never once was it cliché and of course, it was something refreshing but not quite up to my expectations.

Submarine is a unique and quirky film that provides a relatable story that is sure to amuse and entertain audiences. While I am not one of those people that has highly regarded this film, I believe that it is still a worthwhile watch and is somewhat endearing without having to smother or suffocate romantic stereotypes.

Score: 6.5/10.