Le fils de Rambow

I recently took this movie in at the 2007 Sundance film festival and am quite glad that I made the effort to sneak this little gem in. The movie was made by the very talented Garth Jennings of the famed music video production team Hammer and Tongs known for their visionary music videos and previously Hitcherhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Set in an average English town in 1982 the movie revolves around the interesting life of a 12-13 year old boy named Will whose family is part of a strict religious group that prohibits him from having any friends outside the group and strictly forbids him from watchings any TV or Movies. Without these usual sources of childhood entertainment Will finds other ways to pass the time, namely in drawing out his flourishing imagination that he scribbles and doodles all over the pages of his bible. One day Will unexpectedly crosses paths with the school terror Carter who also happens to be an amateur bootlegger at the local movie theater. Will, whose never seen a movie before is caught off guard when at Carters home he sees Rambo playing on the TV, the visuals of the movie explode in Will's imaginative mind and from there on out Will is forever changed. An unlikely friendship begins between Will and Carter as they begin production on Carter's home movie masterpiece, Son of Rambow. The two children begin coming closer before their friendship is tested by a new-wave French exchange student Didier Revolve. As the friendship between Will and Carter begins getting twisted so does his relationship with his family, as the church group starts taking notice of Wills more worldly interests. In the end Will must stay true to himself and the film must go on.

The performances by all the children were exceptional, especially Carter who is the movie's sparkplug and provides comic relief frequently. As well as Didier the french exchange student who is a text book example of how absurd the whole new wave trends of the day were, his appearances are all wildly amusing. The movie also has a fair amount of quirky animations and dream sequences that offer visual pleasures for the eyes and bring childhood doodles to life. The movie is just a brilliant little idea and it plays out so very well in all the settings and the characters are extremely likable in all manners, the movie should play great for almost all ages

An endearing, feel-good (unless you're Plymouth Brethren!), 1980's nostalgia fest. A bit of a cross between "Kes" & "Gregory's Girl". If you haven't watched either of those 2 films - or if you have watched them and didn't like them - then I doubt whether this film will do much for you.

If you can't relate to being in awe of a 'cool' French exchange student; or the thrill of being allowed in the hallowed ground of a 6th form common room; or dancing to The Cure, Duran Duran & Gary Numan, then you're unlikely to feel much of a connection with the characters in this film. It has so many uniquely 1980's British cultural references I suspect a lot of overseas audiences will be left just scratching their heads.

I also don't understand why they had to have so much bad language & blasphemy in it otherwise it would have been a really good family film. Why do British film producers do that? :o(

Greetings again from the darkness. The Sundance favorite is finally making the rounds and I found this to be a very entertaining and charming film, despite its relative simplicity.

A semi-autobiographical piece from writer/director Garth Jennings ("The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"), the film focuses on the escapades of two young boys making a movie. Along the way, many topics are addressed ... family, religion, friendship, loyalty, idol-worship, etc.

Bill Milner (as Will Proudfoot) and Will Poulter (as Lee Carter) are the newcomers who play the boys. Poulter is a near reincarnation of River Phoenix as Chris Chambers ("Stand By Me") as he carries so much bottled up emotion stemming from his longing for attention. Milner's character is the more sensitive, creative type being suffocated by his family's religion. Quite a pair.

As a commentary on film and celebrity, the two boy's world is rocked when their film-making is discovered. Now everyone wants a piece including the French exchange student, Didier, played hysterically well by Jules Sitruk. Character issues to follow!

The boys are so endearing that most kids would enjoy the film and certainly most adults who were still growing up in the 80's will get a kick out of it.

"Son of Rambow" is a cute and enjoyable film. However, it's one that has an amazingly unlikely ending and it has a few loose ends...but on balance it is worth seeing.

Will is a young boy who appears to be about 8 years-old who is very sad and lonely. This is because his family are members of an ultra-religious sect and Will isn't allowed to do many of the things other kids do. However, oddly, his mother sends him to school with other kids....kids who are NOT from this same religious order. But being an oddball, he's mostly alone...that is until he meets Lee Carter, the kid who's been voted most likely to go to prison before he reaches puberty!

So what do these two boys have in common? Well, they both want to make a movie....a sequel to "Rambo: First Blood"...and making films and hanging with this 'bad kid' is a serious breech of the rules for Will. And, what does a weird French foreign exchange student have to do with all this?

The film has some charming moments and the child actors did a very nice job. But the final portion of the film, while enjoyable, makes no sense and seems more formulaic than intelligently made. Still, it's a cute little film....and there aren't too many like it.

I was lucky enough to see this film at a private screening in London and i'm happy to say it really does live up to the hype. You can see why Paramount bought this film for $8 million (a record for any film being bought at Sundance) as they will surely make ten times that.

This film has something for everyone; laughter, emotion and enough nostalgic material from the 80's to keep any generation from that decade and previous ones happy.

I was also extremely impressed with the two young unknown (at the point of this review) leads. It's worth seeing this film just for their performances.

The film the two boys make within the film is quite charming too and is itself better than most of the crap being made today, even if it is essentially a home movie being filmed in some woods with a camcorder.

Quite simply a modern day classic and will no doubt hold a space in all film buffs DVD collection.

Well Done!