Son of Rambow (2008)

A runaway audience smash at the Sundance Film Festival, Son of Rambow is a hilariously fresh and visually inventive take on friendship, family, film heroes and the death-defying adventures of growing up in the video age. The film opens May 2, 2008.

Summary

It all begins in 1980s Britain, when young Will Proudfoot, raised in isolation among The Brethren, a puritanical religious sect in which music and TV are strictly forbidden, encounters something beyond his wildest fantasies: a pirated copy of Rambo: First Blood. His virgin viewing of the iconic thriller blows his mind – and rapidly expanding imagination – wide open. Now, Will sets out to join forces with the seemingly diabolical school bully, Lee Carter, to make their own action epic, devising wildly creative, on-the-fly stunts, not to mention equally elaborate schemes for creating a movie of total commitment and non-stop thrills while hiding out from The Brethren.

But when school popularity finally descends on Will and Lee in the form of, oui, the super-cool French exchange student, Didier Revol, their remarkable new friendship and precious film are pushed, quite literally, to the breaking point...

Filmed in a creatively mad-cap, homemade style with a mostly amateur cast and a wry, comic-tinged nostalgia, creative visionaries Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, AKA Hammer & Tongs , manage to capture both the agony and the giddy ecstasy of a camcorder childhood with humor, poignancy and a rousing dose of cinematic panache.

Cast and Credits

Starring: Neil Dudgeon, Jessica Stevenson, Jules Sitruk (II), Anna Wing, Ed Westwick
Directed by: Garth Jennings
Produced by: Hengameh Panahi, Bristol Baughan, Ben Goldhirsh
Running Time: 1 hr. 35 min.
Release Date: May 2nd, 2008 (limited)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence and reckless behavior.
Distributors: Paramount Vantage