First Impression: Son of Rambow
When you’re 11, there are few things more important than best friends and your own imagination. The upcoming Son of Rambow is a charming and comic celebration of both.
Set in England in the 1980s, it tells the story of two unlikely companions. The first is Lee Carter. Left to his own devices by indifferent parents, he’s a monster who terrorizes his public school classmates. The other is Will Proudfoot who has been raised in a strictly religious household which forbids music and TV and provides little outlet for his abundant creativity.
They’re an odd couple, but when they meet one day in the halls outside of class, Lee sees the perfect stuntman to help him remake Rambo: First Blood. Once Will gets his first look at a pirated copy of the real Sylvester Stallone film, the possibilities for his imagination, previously confined to drawings in notebooks, are blown wide open.
Son of Rambow comes from the fertile imaginations of producing/writing/directing team Nick Goldsmith and Garth Jennings better known as Hammer and Tongs. The duo made a name for themselves creating music videos for Supergrass, Blur, Radiohead, R.E.M. and Fatboy Slim. They made their big screen debut with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
While the Rambow trailer emphasizes the film’s comedy and slapstick elements, it’s real strength lies in how sweet it is. It’s an ode to creativity and to being a kid before the infinite possibilities of life have been scared out of you. Love of the Rambo franchise is definitely not required. Any movie that captured your imagination when you were 11 will do.
Son of Rambow opens this Friday in the UK and it comes to the New York and Los Angeles on May 2nd so keep an eye out. In the words of Lee Carter, “it’s going to be skill!”
Filed under: Upcoming
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I’m really looking forward to this one. I’ve got a festival screening coming up soon and it’s high on my list of films I must see.
Hmmmm…all the YouTube videos seem to be down…
I actually sat and watched the majority of this trailer in the theater for the first time, and it looks pretty promising. Kind of like a mix between Love Actually and Rushmore, with some Be Kind Rewind thrown in. Actually, the only thing that reminded me of Love Actually were the schoolgirls.
So you’ve seen this already - yes, Craig?
Yes Daniel, I caught a screening late last week.
The trailer emphasizes much of the zaniness, and it doesn’t lie, but it doesn’t touch upon the movie’s strong sentimental side. Sentimental in a good way, though.
It’s not perfect, but it’s very likeable. I hope it does well.