Submarine
Director: Richard Ayoade
Writer: Richard Ayoade
Based on: Joe Dunthorne‘s novel
Cast: Craig Roberts, Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine
Part of: Viennale

Plot:
Oliver (Craig Roberts) is 15 years odl, an outsider and in love with Jordana (Yasmin Paige), who is pretty much out of his league – until he participates in a bit of mobbying and gains her favor. But while things seem to work out fine with Jordana, the marriage of Oliver’s parents (Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor) apparently falls apart when his mother’s first love Graham (Paddy Considine) moves back into the neighboring house.

The first 30 minutes or so are pretty much the perfect coming of age film. Entertaining, smart, sensitive, creative and funny. And then it just loses its momentum and peters out, leaving you wondering what the hell happened there.

After those first chapters of brilliance, Ayoade somehow loses his thread and it got a bit boring and stopped going anywhere. There were still great moments in between (“My mom gave a handjob to a mystic” is one of the best lines in a film ever) but it just never reaches the verve of the first half hour again.

And that even though the cast is really great. Craig Roberts is wonderfully pubescent, as is Yasmin Paige. Sally Hawkins is perfect as usual and Noah Taylor completely holds his own against her, too. They also have really great characters to work with – Oliver’s parents are equally well-meaning and awful.

Whenever Graham the Mystic shows up, it gets extremely bizarre – in a very good way. His haircut alone deserves a special mention.

Nevertheless, Ayoade doesn’t manage to keep the movie together, despite all the good ingredients he got. [I haven’t read the book, so I can’t really say if it, too, falls apart.] But for a first feature film, it’s quite alright.

Summarising: Despite potential, not more than nice.