Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith seem to be making a career out of succeeding where others fail. First they made a dynamite little movie using a property many thought was inadaptable. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy wasn’t perfect but it was fun, had great performances and most of all nailed Addams hopeful humanism. These guys understood what fans had been waiting for and managed to make it accessible for everyone else. While many others this year have taken stabs at the idea of film/art as vehicle for building community (Be Kind Rewind) Jennings and Goldsmith went out and did it.

Their latest film Son Of Rambow takes this concept even farther by reminding all of us film geeks exactly what we wish our childhoods had really been like. Fulltime child delinquent Lee Carter wants to be a filmmaker and he’s got everything he needs, a camera lifted from his brother, lots of free time and research material thanks to the aforementioned delinquency, and the ability to talk anyone into anything. Enter pliable classmate Will Proudfoot. 50 pounds dripping wet, he’s just seen Rambo, his first movie, something his strict sectarian upbringing forbids, and his repressed heart explodes into the sort of wonder and exuberance that Carter needs to film his masterpiece Son of Rambow.

First it must be said that, yes, this movie will make you grin from ear to ear. So if you have any doubts about whether the trailer can be trusted let me encourage you to plunk down some hard earned cash. In fact if you’ve ever tried to make any kind of movie then consider Son of Rambow a primer, not in art for arts sake, but art for everybodys sake. Lee and Will are unforgettable characters and the movie gives them plenty of trouyble to get into and is at its strongest when they are free to play, make their movie and enlist the aid of others.

A film like this hinges more than almost anything on performances and these two kids have screen presence to spare. They are joined by a pitch perfect supporting cast and Jennings and Goldsmith do more with them than create quirky character types funneling those quirks into meaningful statements about coming of age, the need to fit in, and the loss of innocence.

What doesn’t work as well is the clunkiness of the storytelling which threatens to turn Rambow into the kind of movie you would expect a slightly older Lee Carter to make in 1st year film school. I’m thinking unnecessary action and some predictable melodrama
For instance the religious sect in the film could have been put to better use but is wielded rather cartoonishly as a narrative device designed merely to put a wedge between Will and his mother who fans of Spaced will recognize as Jessica Hynes. A slight nod is given at the end to religion in general and one doesn’t really get the idea that the point of the film is to dog religion it’s just that there’s no complexity at all offered to characters in the film that use an awful lot of screen time up. Lee Carters older brother and defacto guardian would be equally cartoonish but he has a more complex relationship with his brother than anyone in the Church has with the Proudfoot family.

Another clunky narrative device is put to much better, if melodramatic, use helping to bring about an ending which is genuinely moving. What is art for? I’m all for excellence in art, but one of the most wonderful things about my interest in film is the way that film brings me into contact with other people at screenings, conventions, through the internet, etc. What’s the point of filling our live with story, symbol and myth if we don’t pay any attention to what those things teach us about love, mercy, forgiveness, greed, lust, hatred, revenge, heroism, wickedness, goodness, redemption? Out on the road I meet a lot of fans. Some are interested in growing, learning, changing. Their fandom is part of a vibrant journey through their lives. I meet others who are running, hiding, getting constantly plastered, endlessly hooking up, cynical about anything that smacks of transcendence, but living static lives with no desire to learn from anything they encounter unless it brings them another moment of empty pleasure. Personally I strive for the one and am constantly repenting of the other. Son of Rambow was another reminder of why I love film, it invites me to risk, to love, to dream. If I don’t actually go out and do those things then what good is it to fill my head with them? I invite you to see if the ending of this film doesn’t inspire you, at least a little, to wish you had the heart and soul of Will Proudfoot or at least that you were Lee Carter lucky enough to have a friend that loved you that much and to learn what art, faith and community are really all about. Next time you find yourself in a darkened movie theater, especially at a convention where people have taken a lot of time and trouble to get there, think about all those elbows and shoulders you’re rubbing up against. You might just be lucky enough to run into Will or Lee.