A coming-of-age comedy. The directorial debut from the bespectacled co-star of The IT Crowd, Richard Ayoade, executive-produced by Ben Stiller, and featuring a score by Arctic Monkey's frontman, Alex Turner.
Set in Swansea, Wales, 15-year-old Oliver (Craig Roberts) sees himself as a cool, literary genius. In reality he's socially inept and massively unpopular. Convinced that his father (Noah Taylor) is depressed and his mother (Sally Hawkins) is having an affair with her life coach (Paddy Considine), "a hippy-looking twonk", he embarks on a misguided campaign to bring the family back together. Meanwhile, he is also trying to lose his virginity – before he turns 16 – to his pyromaniac girlfriend Jordana (Yasmin Paige).
"I often imagine how people would react to my death," admits Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts), the hero of this bittersweet coming-of-age tale. Cue bawling schoolgirls holding signs proclaiming, "We envy the angels!" It’s an indulgence everyone understands because we’ve all been pretentious teenagers. At least Oliver knows he’s ridiculous, even if he can’t help it. "Sometimes I wish there was a film crew following my every move," he sighs. In Richard Ayoade’s charming debut, to all intents and purposes, there is.
Part swot, part stalker, Oliver is a "moderately unpopular" schoolboy in small-town 1980s Wales struggling with puberty, virginity and his social standing. He’s tried everything: pushing girls in puddles, listening to French crooners, even a brief hat phrase. But just as a fling with local bad girl Jordana (Yasmin Paige) looks set to solve all three, his parents (Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins)’ marriage is rocked by the reappearance of his mum’s ex (Paddy Considine).
Though the subject matter is nothing new – teens have been egregiously self-obsessed at least since 1951’s Catcher In The Rye – every aspect of the film thrums with quality. Ayoade’s direction is crisp and quirky, Alex Turner (of Arctic Monkeys) sings melancholy songs about quicksand and cold winds, and the performances are brilliant throughout, particularly one-to-watch Roberts and Considine in a mullet that would embarrass a Highlander. From falling in love to fleeing real emotions, the trials of teenage life have rarely been so exhilaratingly – or so excruciatingly – dramatised. Whether you’re 25 or 75 you’ll feel Oliver’s age again in a Polaroid flash.
By Matt Glasby, Flicks.co.nz
Certainly found a high level of audience enjoyment at the session I saw.
I hoped for this movie to reach the end fast a boring tedious affair. Coming-of-age self satisfying arty farty, bigheaded script with a general lack of originality.
"Submarine". First the name. Apart from a mural on the lead's bedroom wall, there is no apparent reason why the movie is called "Submarine". This is the story of the real difficulties facing most maturing teenagers; self-doubt and social inadequacy, bullying at school, relationship difficulties and to achieve one's first 'consummation,' insecurity arising from parental discord and the clear gap between male and female maturity. This movie is described as a comedy/drama and, yet again, for us the combination didn't work. The comedy was so dry that laughter was conspicuous by its silence. Lloyd Taylor as Noah Tait, a fifteen year-old boy has two challenges; plotting the resurrection of his parents' marriage, while at the same time being a sensitive and attentive boyfriend. This is a well-produced film with good performances by an experienced cast, particularly by Noah Taylor as Lloyd Taylor, that might well set film society types alight, but didn't do that for us mere mortals. 2.5 stars.
Charming, quirky, endearing. Totally loved it :-)
So I got to see Submarine at the film festival and on my birthday (August 4th). And Submarine is a highly anticaped indie film that almost no one can get the chance to see to because it is pretty hard to find. But Submarine is about a 15 year old boy called Oliver Tate who is trying to stalk two people. Jordanna Berven who is a girl at his school who he secretly loves and then becomes his girlfriend quite early on in the movie. And is also stalking someone called Graham, who Oliver is afraid his mother his having an affair with. So Oliver has two goals, to lose his virginity to Jordanna. And stop his mother Lilly from having an affair on Loyd. Loyd being Oliver's dad. Now where to start with Submarine, because so much happens in this film. But I will say that Submarine is a fresh film, it is and it's so original and realistic that it sticks with you and this is a film I will remember for quite some time. And I am surprised to say this but it lived up to my expectations. Now just to start off with. The Direction in this film is amazing. This is Richard Ayodye's first film and his direction in this is perfect, never would you expect so much from Moss from the IT Crowd. The way he makes this all play out, and he focuses on different things but have them still tie together was great. And the film is split into different parts just like inglorious basterds was and how it had the chapters. Well this has the same thing and has different parts. Part 1 focusing on Jordanna. Part 2 focusing on Graham. Part 3 the showdown and then the epilogue. And also this film is so realistic and feels so real. I am not lying when I say that this never feels like a film and a lot of the time I forgot that I was in a cinema watching a movie. And I know that I have said that before with movie like Super 8 and Inception. But that was BS. What I meant when I was talking about those two movies was that the characters feel so real that you think the stuff in the movie could happen. But I was still in the theater knowing that I was watching a movie. But with this movie I hardly ever thought that I was watching a movie. Because everything was so realistic and is so much like how teenagers act. And I was immersed in the story that you completely forget you are in the cinema. There was a total of two times that I realized I was sitting in a seat watching a movie. That is extremely rear for a film to do these days or just at all even. I will try not to give anything away her but one thing that showed extreme talent is. At the end the film is built on cliche's and it tries and succeeds at steering as far away from that as possible. What I am trying to say is that at the end it is built on cliche's and yet does everything to not feel cliched and it does that. And when you're watching it, it feels completely original. And this is leading back to the film not feeling like a film but this is a film that our generation can relate to, and will probably still be able to relate to for years to come. And of course how could I forget the story? It was smart and I loved the way everything would play out and how smart Oliver was in all these situations. Now I won't go on about how good the movie is any more. But now let me focus on something that I don't like about the film. And it's also something people should take into account if they are going to or want to see the film. Unfortunately this is one of those "all the big laughs are in the trailer movies". And that really let me down. Don't get me wrong, I still laughed at the jokes. But I could tell that I didn't find them as funny as the rest of the audience was. And it made me wish that I hadn't gotten as excited for the film as I did. Or more or less just not watch as many trailers and clips as I did even though I tried not to watch many. So if you want to see the film and are quite excited. By all means get excited because this one is really good and lives up to the hype. But please do not watch trailers and clips in your excitement. Watch only one trailer and that is the one the Flicks (this website has). So Submarine is a movie that feels so fresh and up to date that while I was watching it I felt like it was made just the day before. Even though this movie was first shown to an audience last year. It is a movie that feels s quite weird and may not be for everyone. But I loved everything about Submarine, and I think is a shoe in at next year's Oscars. I give Submarine five out of five stars.
Chronicles the emotional terrain and heartbreaking emotional intensity of adolescence with uncommon grace, humor, and understated power.
A perfect blend of cool, quirky comedy and warm-hearted drama.
Coyly monotonous Welsh coming-of-age confection.
A coming-of-age tale full of wit and panache.
Submarine may not be epic cinema, but in a modest way, it’s close to perfection.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 24th Nov 2011.
Release date: November 24th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
