Son of Rambow

Will Proudfoot & Lee Carter are two little boys whose life couldn’t be more different. Lee lacks any and all parental supervision, instead he lives with his teenage brother. Will on the other hand lives with some of the strictest rules around as his family belongs to a religion that doesn’t even allow him to watch TV. When Lee blackmails Will into helping him with a short film he is making Will catches his first glimpses of how the rest of the world lives and the character that changes his life – Rambo.

Son of Rambow was not the light hearted movie I thought it would be – it was better. Writer/director Garth Jennings merged comedy and drama in this story that wasn’t a coming-of-age tale, but instead a story of family and the bonds that help make us who we are; it perfectly captures the job and trauma of being a child and the magic in between.

I have to send out kudos to Bill Milner & Will Poulter who play Will and Lee; they are very young actors but they carry the film deftly and none of the adult actors distract from them at all. I am excited to see if both of these boys continue in acting.

As much as I loved Son of Rambow I find it hard to describe. I think this is partly because the film touches on a lot of subjects and a lot of my interests – so much in fact that it feels difficult to pull out just a few things about it after one viewing. One thing I adored was how Jennings pulled Will’s art and fantasies into reality as Will’s imagination was allowed to expand. The techniques he used, and the way it was merged with the realism of the rest of the story made Will all the more endearing.

I am excited to see this movie again and I dare those of you that make movies not to laugh hysterically at the clapboard Lee makes out of his fingers.

Director & Writer: Garth Jennings
Will Proudfoot: Bill Milner
Lee Carter: Will Poulter
Didier Revol: Jules Sitruk