Both strands of the plot unfold in compelling and not-always-expected ways. Oliver is focused on a pair of pressing concerns throughout the film: his love for Jordana, a teenage femme fatale in a Louise Brooks bob who has a yen for cruel pranks and “light arson,” and his concern for his parents’ marriage, which is under increasing strain. But he’s also confused and flawed and more likable because of it, and Roberts grounds him in reality, keeping him from coming across as precious as my review might make him sound. He reads the dictionary and adopts words like “flagitious” and “atavistic” into his speech and takes a girl to see Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc on a date. But perhaps it’s more accurate to say that he’s this film’s Oliver Tate, a character imbued with enough love and personality by his creators that he’s able to stand on his own, even when he’s name-checking Salinger. One could say that Oliver Tate, the wide-eyed, shaggy haired teenage protagonist played by Craig Roberts, is this film’s Antoine Doinel, or perhaps its Holden Caulfield (Oliver appears to be a fan of both characters). It’s a story of teenage trouble that has the style and heft to conspicuously reference The 400 Blows without seeming pompous or ridiculous. ![]() ![]() But Submarine, which Ayoade adapted for the screen from a novel Joe Dunthorne, is sweet and sad in addition to being funny. Fans of British comedy will know Ayoade from his work on comedy shows like The IT Crowd, The Mighty Boosh, and Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, and his sense of humor is evident throughout his narrative feature debut as a director. I still eagerly tell my friends about the movie I loved that I think they might love too, and by the time I sat down to write this review, I had probably already told a half dozen friends about Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, a coming-of-age film that played to a packed house at IFFB following successful screenings at Toronto and Sundance, not to mention a critically acclaimed theatrical run in Britain.
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