Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. Looks like AOL put up a lovely HD version of the SON OF RAMBOW trailer. I’m working on getting you guys a clip from the film soon. This is one of the first truly great films of 2008, a huge-hearted gem that I can’t gush about enough. I’m going to review it once we’re closer to release, but in the meantime, here’s one of our BNAT regulars, Reni, finally writing in about the post-BNAT screening of the film that was held in Austin. Reni’s one of the people I look forward to hanging out with each year at BNAT, and I missed that screening because I had to fly home early, but it sounds like it went well...
SON OF RAMBOW, the latest from Hammer & Tongs' Garth Jennings, is about a boy called Will, living in a strict brethren community on the south coast of England. One afternoon, Will encounters school rebel Lee Carter. Both kids come from complicated homes. Will isn't supposed to mix with people outside the brethren; and Lee's unparented home life involves looking after a meaner, older brother without help or guidance from any adults. In his spare time, Lee videotapes movies in theatres and sells them as pirate VHS cassettes. Lee's latest pirate video is FIRST BLOOD. Will has never actually seen a film before and when Lee shows it to him, Will is blown away. He immediately volunteers to be in Lee's next film, and soon the unlikely lads are reenacting scenes from FIRST BLOOD, angling the story to include the search for Will's dead father. But their friendship is tested when their school classmates hijack the film and a New Wave French exchange student, Didier Revolve, asks to play the lead role. Hands down, this was the best film not to play at BNAT. It's a sweet, gentle and funny work. Jennings balances the surreal and the mundane with a light touch. And unlike HITCHHIKER’S, it is uniquely his own. Deeply nostalgic for 80’s rejects like me, the film is laced with slang like “skill”, Radio 1 jingles and a clip from Screen Test featuring Jennings himself. Performances by Bill Milner (Will) and Will Poulter (Lee) are terrific. Poulter's pre-pubescent rebel even has shades of Charlotte Coleman's Marmalade Atkins. We saw SON OF RAMBOW in Austin. It's strange watching a movie that reminds you so much of home in another country. I kept flashing back to school summer camp in St Malo, 1985 and 16 year old scouse girls who looked like The Gymslips. Completely off topic except this was where I first saw RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II. Anyway it’s really good. You’ll like it. In fact, it's skill... Reni
