Son of Rambow

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We all have a few titles that are on our radar, but if ever brought up to anyone, are met with something along the lines of "what in the Hell are you talking about?". One of these for me, is 'Son of Rambow'. Generally, if I mention it, people wonder if I've ever even SEEN any bit of the 'First Blood/Rambo' series (which I basically haven't, but at least I can make it a project for the site). Moving on, perhaps it might interest newcomers that this is where both Will Poulter ('We're the Millers'/'Maze Runner'/'The Revenant') and Bill Milner ('X-Men: First Class'/'Dunkirk') got their respective starts as kids.

The film follows the young and innocent Will Proudfoot (Milner) who belongs to the Plymouth Brethren church along with his mother (Jessica Hynes). The religion comes with the strictest of rules, one of which involves never watching any form of entertainment. One day, in class, he's sent out to the hall, as the class is about to watch a documentary. Here, another trouble-making, bad influence of a boy, Lee Carter (Poulter) gets thrown out of class, and the pair meet, only to break a fish bowl, getting them both into trouble. Lee makes a deal that he will take the punishment and "torture" for Will's dead father's watch, and Will acting as stunt man for the film Lee wants to make for the Screen Test Young Film-Makers' Competition.

One day, when Lee brings Will to his house, he makes him hide from his brother, Lawrence (Ed Westwick). While in hiding, Will ends up watching 'First Blood', and becomes inspired to help Lee with his film. The pair form an unlikely friendship, but with the catch that Will has to keep this friendship hidden from his mother. This reminds me of some of my old friends, although they weren't nearly as bad as Lee Carter. I was a pretty innocent kid, but still managed to get into trouble with these other kids. Sometimes they weren't allowed over, and I got introduced to things like smoking, and other rebellious, boyish things, and none of it was particularly "good". But despite these guys being bad kids, we still had deep conversation, and fun times. Somehow, this brings a sort of dark nostalgia to the table. 

Back to the film, the main focus is the friendship between Will and Lee, but there are some of other sides to this story. In their home lives each boy is dealing with a very deep personal matter. Will has to deal with the irritating Brother Joshua of the Brethren, who has an obvious thing for his mother, and seems to be slowly replacing his father. Meanwhile, Lee has to deal with his ignorant brother, Lawrence, but is completely misguided with the thought that Lawrence is the only person in his life who really cares for him. I appreciate how the film takes the time to delve into these personal problems, as those are what make for the best conversation between two unlikely friends. It's so easy to brush off a kid you don't like, but you might empathize with their story if you just take the time to listen.

Last and, honestly, probably least, there's the French exchange student, Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk). This kid rolls up to the school, becomes instantly popular (based on 80s punk/pop/WTF fashion), and it feels like he got lost on his way to another movie but decided to stick around and see the sights. Eventually, we get that he has this whole other side story about the toxicity that popularity can bring, and it does eventually blend into Will and Lee's story as he wants to help them with the movie. Of course this also leads to rivalries and such, which may or may not get in the way of the project Lee wants to do. Didier serves his purpose, and a valuable lesson is learned through him, but there was still something about him that felt altogether unnecessary (in other words, the film totally could have still worked with his absence, unless there was something vital I missed).

This is another one of those movies I have a soft spot for based on the subject matter of imagination going towards filmmaking. Another such example is 'Be Kind, Rewind' or 'Brigsby Bear'; films that aren't necessarily golden in quality, but definitely show an appreciation for film and creativity while adding a healthy does of friendships and just plain good old warmth. This also takes place somewhere in the 80s, so the soundtrack is pretty full with nostalgic pop hits. If nothing else, it's pretty interesting to see these kids (namely Poulter) in their beginnings, both actually delivering really good performances. I consider this a feel-good movie as a whole, and well worth checking out... that is, if you can find it.

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