Cynical Cinema

I have watched a lot of movies in my time. 400 or so of those movies are reviewed here on this website. But prior to starting this website, I would venture a guess and say I have seen about five thousand movies, maybe more. Because I am really lame and have no life. And of all those movies, I can honestly say that I have rarely been as charmed with a movie as I am with Son of Rambow. Paramount Home Entertainment releases this gem on Tuesday, August 26th, and I highly recommend picking it up right away. There is no word I can use to describe this movie other than “charming”. A word that could be considered one that indicates faint praise. Like, “oh, that movie was so cute and charming, too bad it involved Meg Ryan and sucked”. But I mean it in a way that conveys the highest praise.

Son Of Rambow is not a great movie. It is not a perfect movie or even an extraordinarily well-crafted movie. But those are merely benchmarks that many movie critics use to give a final rating. Like a judge in Olympic gymnastics. Oh, there’s an awkward cut at the end of the scene. Minus one star. There’s a slight hop at the end of the dismount. Minus one point. What movies aim to do is create a certain emotion, and the technical aspects of a movie can sometimes be totally irrelevant. And Son Of Rambow is one of those movies. Not that it’s ham-handed or poorly directed or anything. But it’s charm comes from elsewhere. What makes the film so wonderful is that the charm is, or at least seems to be, completely effortless. It’s that effortlessness that makes great movies. E.T., The Goonies, and a very few others have managed to do the same.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a young boy, about nine or ten years old, being raised by a single mother in some kind of religious cult. When you go to school, you have to wait outside the classroom whenever the class is watching a movie or something on TV, because your religion forbids it. You have no friends, because making friends with anyone the cult does not approve is forbidden. You have a vivid imagination, and you express this incredible imagination through drawing - on your schoolbooks, your locker, the bathroom stalls at school, anything you can get your hands on. And then, through a series of bizarre circumstances, you end up seeing the only thing you have ever seen, on television or in movies. And it’s First Blood. Seriously, stop and think about that for a moment. When I was very young, about five years old, I saw television for the first time ever. I watched a Raggedy Ann cartoon at, I believe, Megan McLeod’s birthday party. And it affected me. In point of fact, it scared the living hell out of me. I had nightmares for weeks. About Raggedy Ann. Imagine seeing Rambo in that situation.

Now, the only window you have into the world beyond your own is RAMBO. And the only boy willing to talk to you at school is making a movie. You know this boy because every time you’re out in the hall when the class is watching TV, he’s out in the hall because he’s been kicked out of his own class. And now, you are obsessed with Rambo, and you get to play the Son Of Rambo in his movie. The world is opening up to you! In fact, this other boy is so impressed with your drawings that he’s making YOUR movie. When young Will turns to young Lee Carter and says “this is the happiest day of my entire life”, you can’t question the statement for even a second. It’s stating the obvious. Of COURSE this is the happiest day of his life. And we, the audience, are absolutely thrilled for him.

The best thing about this movie are the two young leads. Will Poulter plays Lee Carter, the bad kid in school, a kid who lives alone with his abusive jerk of an older brother because his mom is gallivanting around Europe with some guy. He steals, he wrecks stuff, he tells teachers off, simply because there is no one at home to actually discipline him. So why wouldn’t he? Poulter is fantastic in the role, but it is Bill Milner who turns this film into something great. As Will Proudfoot, the young man under the thumb of this bizarre religious cult, he is pure innocence personified, completely guileless, and so powerfully enthusiastic about this project and his new friend that we are totally sucked in.

The two young men, initially brought together in a sort of friendship-of-convenience, soon become really good friends. As the only two who know about their film project, they become extremely close. Will is sneaking out of his house and plotting convoluted ways to spend time with Lee Carter to make the movie. Lee Carter is sneaking the video camera away from his brother and trying to make him happy while running around with Will. But of course, something has to go wrong in the film, as with any film. And a new kid at school (the Coolest Kid In School) changes the dynamic of their friendship. Lee Carter, more world-wise than Will, sees the new kid for what he is - an irritating poser. But Will, still so amazed by everything in the world around him, can’t understand Lee Carter’s reluctance to involve the new kid, Didier, in the movie.

Of course, their friendship suffers a major setback, and I don’t think it’s giving too much away to tell you that they end up reconciling. But it’s not the end of the movie that matters. It’s the journey that’s amazing. Watching these two kids together is magical. Watching Will perform the stunts that will make up the bulk of their movie is absolutely hilarious. (Especially the one where he jumps out of the tree with the umbrella.) And seeing these kids come of age together merits just one description. Absolutely charming. This is one of the most feel-good movies in years.