Der Sohn von Rambow (2007)

Der Sohn von Rambow: Directed by Garth Jennings. With Neil Dudgeon, Bill Milner, Jessica Hynes, Anna Wing. During a long English summer in the early 1980s, two schoolboys from differing backgrounds set out to make a film inspired by First Blood (1982).

“When I saw the trailer for this film, it looked like another corny British comedy. The film itself is much, much better than that, as someone else has said it feels more like a Michael Gondry film. Very idiosyncratic, quirky and confident in what it does, with many laugh-out-loud moments. What I enjoyed most of all was how some really nice themes and subplots started to innocently dovetail with the story, never feeling contrived, or overly sentimental. There were some great touches where the writer/director chose to imply or suggest something without going overboard – which makes for a much more warming experience than the usual obvious and clunky approach in British screen writing. The acting was superb. This film will appeal to many, many people for different reasons – I just hope they are encouraged and inspired enough to go and see it. I hope that word of mouth does this film the justice it deserves. Go see it!!”