Son of Rambow

Infobox Film
name = Son of Rambow

---

caption = UK quad poster
director = Garth Jennings
producer = Nick Goldsmith
writer = Garth Jennings
starring = Will Poulter
Bill Milner
Neil Dudgeon
Adam Godley
music = Joby Talbot
cinematography = Jess Hall
editing = Dominic Leung
distributor = Celluloid Dreams (Worldwide) Optimum Releasing (UK theatrical) Paramount Vantage (USA theatrical)
released = April 4, 2008 (UK)
May 2, 2008 (USA)
runtime = 96 min.
country = United Kingdom
France
Germany
language = English
French
budget = ₤4,500,000 [cite podcast|url=http://cinema.usc.edu/podcasts/mp3/jennings-goldsmith.mp3 |title=Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith |website=http://cinema.usc.edu/podcasts/ |host=USC School of Cinematic Arts |date=2008-04-25 |accessdate=09-29 |accessyear=2008 ]
gross = $10,058,121
website = http://www.sonoframbow.com/
amg_id = 1:382543
imdb_id = 0845046

"Son of Rambow" is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by Garth Jennings. The film premiered 22 January 2007 at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. [cite web|url=http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=4662 |title=Son of Rambow |accessdate=2008-05-02 |publisher=Sundance.org] It was later shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and Glasgow Film Festival. The film was also shown at the 51st BFI London Film Festival. "Son of Rambow" was released in the United Kingdom on 4 April 2008 and opened in limited release in the United States on 2 May 2008.cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0845046/releaseinfo |title=Son of Rambow (2007) - Release dates |accessdate=2008-05-02 |publisher=Internet Movie Database]

Plot

Set in "a long, hot summer in the early '80s", the film is a coming-of-age comedy. It tells the story of two schoolboys who are inspired by the film" " to make their own action-adventure film, which they hope will win them a young filmmaker competition. Neglected youngster Lee Carter (Will Poulter) - the worst-behaved boy in school - has access to the home video equipment used by his bullying older brother's (Ed Westwick) video pirating enterprise.

Will (Bill Milner) could not be more different; quiet and shy he comes from a family that belongs to the strict Plymouth Brethren religious sect. Will is forbidden to watch films or television and is made to leave his classroom when the teacher puts on a documentary. In the corridor he meets Lee, thrown out of another class for bad behaviour. At first, Lee sees Will as an easily manipulated lackey but after Will sees a pirated copy of "First Blood" and throws himself into the filmmaking experience, the two realise how much they each need a best friend.

Their movie takes on a chaotic life of its own, as they fight to keep control of it, and also to keep it secret from Will's family. Ultimately it changes the lives of both boys, and their relationships with their friends and families.

Cast

*Bill Milner as Will Proudfoot
*Neil Dudgeon as Brother Joshua
*Adam Godley as Brethren Leader
*Jessica Stevenson as Mary Proudfoot
*Anna Wing as Grandma
*Tallulah Evans as Jess Proudfoot
*Will Poulter as Lee Carter
*Jules Sitruk as Didier Revol
*Ed Westwick as Lawrence Carter
*Eric Sykes as Rambo / Old Man
*Imogen Aboud as Young Mary

Production

Conception

"Son of Rambow" is a project that Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith - collectively known as Hammer & Tongs - worked on for some years. Its development was interrupted when they were asked to make "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and it is their second major feature film. It was inspired by Jennings' own experiences as a child in the 1980s, when video equipment first became available to the public, and the film lovingly recreates the atmosphere of an English comprehensive school of the time, using a soundtrack of familiar and less familiar pop tracks from the era to good effect. [Garth Jennings, speaking after the London premiere]

Pre-production and filming

The film was shot primarily in the English town of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire: featuring Ashlyns School and The Rex, a recently refurbished listed Art Deco cinema which had been left derelict between 1989 and 2004. The two roads where both boys live are approximately 1200 meters apart, being located next to Berkhamsted Castle. They are the two most exclusive residential roads in the town.

The film includes a vintage clip of Jan Pinkava winning the BBC "Screen Test" competition. The minor role of Danny, an acolyte of Didier, a glamorous French exchange student, is played by Stanley Kubrick's grandson, Sam Kubrick-Finney. [cite web|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2254059,00.html|title=The Guardian: Let's hold the premiere in the front room]

Notes

Despite the fact that the film is endorsed by Sylvester Stallone, the star of the "Rambo" series, the "W" in the title is added because of legal reasons. At the very end of the closing credits, Carter's voice-over points out that "Rambo" is not spelled with a "w", Will states "Oh OK", and Carter answers, "It's still good though".

Critical reception

"Son of Rambow" received generally favourable reviews from critics. As of 12 August 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 75% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 70 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_rambow/ |title=Son of Rambow Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2008-05-02 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 66 out of 100, based on 29 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/sonoframbow |title=Son of Rambow (2008): Reviews |accessdate=2008-05-30 |publisher=Metacritic]

DVD release

"Son of Rambow" was released onto DVD and Blu-ray disc in the United Kingdom on 11 August 2008.It was released on DVD August 26, 2008 in the United States.

References

External links

* [http://www.sonoframbow.com/ Official website]
*imdb title|id=0845046|title=Son of Rambow
*amg movie|id=1:382543|title=Son of Rambow
*mojo title|id=sonoframbow|title=Son of Rambow
*rotten-tomatoes|id=son_of_rambow|title=Son of Rambow
*metacritic film|id=sonoframbow|title=Son of Rambow
* [http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide/popup.aspx?film=4662 "Son of Rambow"] entry in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival film guide

;Interviews
* [http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/feature.php?id=510 Interview with director Garth Jennings] at EyeForFilm.co.uk
* [http://www.thinktalk.com/show/son_rambow Interview with director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith] at Thinktalk

;Reviews
* [http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/whatson/?player=ANG_WhatsOn_15&void=173152/ Review] from ITV Local Anglia film review show All Angles
* [http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/tiff-report-son-of-rambow-review/ Review] at Twitchfilm
* [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article3668036.ece Review] from Times Online