BY NICK STARK, BW FILM CRITIC
IF YOU think coming of age stories about clumsy teenage boys and their first stumbling steps towards love have been overdone, you’d be right. But that’s no reason to miss “Submarine”, a charming and witty new take on the classic trope from British writer-director Richard Ayoade.
Adapted from the popular Joe Dunthorne novel, Ayoade works wonders in his first feature by leavening the hapless early steps towards love of protagonist Oliver Tate (played winningly by Craig Roberts) with a precocious self-awareness. Oliver is cine-literate enough to compare himself to the heroes of the French new wave, but that still gives him no great leg up in wooing the object of his affections. And because love must be seen in both light and shadow, there is the added complication that Oliver must also obsess over the increasingly loveless marriage of his parents (the superb Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor).
The course of true love can never run smooth, which is perhaps why Oliver sets his sights on the improbable Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Page), a sarcastic chain smoker who is as determined on avoiding romance as Oliver is on finding it. In his efforts to be ‘the best boyfriend in the world’, there are the inevitable bouts of anxiety, awkwardness and angst. And even when things seem to be going swimmingly for Oliver, there is always the nemesis next door for him to deal with; self-help guru Graham T. Purvis (Paddy Considine) who is a former flame of Oliver’s mum and who has moved into the neighborhood at just the wrong time.
Ayoade has an extensive background in both television comedy and music videos. He is aided by the excellence of his cinematographer Erik Wilson and there’s plenty of engaging music (including an Andrew Hewitt score and songs by Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys).
Submarine has been released in a crowded movie season, but you’d be missing out if you let it drift by the with tide.
