"My Mum gave a handjob to a mystic."

SUBMARINE (2010)

DIRECTED: Richard Ayoade

STARRED: Crag Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine

AGE RATING: 15

Submarine, the directorial debut of Richard Ayoade, tells the coming-of-age story of Oliver, a precocious 15 year old boy caught between getting laid and preventing the collapse of his parents' marriage. Those familiar with Ayoade from television (BBC's The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd and his appearances on Big Fat Quiz of the Year) will see his wit and somewhat dark humour come through in Submarine.

Although based on a novel of the same name by Joe Dunthorne, Ayoade makes the film his own and doesn't let the film's low budget (£1.2 million) hinder him. There is one scene in particular that sticks in my mind where Oliver is musing over how in the film of his life, the camera would move out in a crane shot but if the budget is too low he'll have to replace it with a simple zoom out instead – as the camera zooms out.

I said that Oliver is precocious. I say this because of the dialogue and the narration that he gives. He's quiet and obviously doesn't have many friends and it's mentioned and referred to a lot that he spends a lot of time reading, so he's obviously going to have a large vocabulary. And that's kind of sad, but it's good insight into the kind of protagonist that we have. I have heard a lot of comparison of Submarine to Jason Reitman's Juno. I'm rather fond of Juno and I understand where the comparison's come from – Juno is also a coming-of-age story of a mature teen with an extensive vocabulary, although these main characters are hugely different. Juno has a circle of friends, whereas Oliver doesn't. Juno's language is indicative of her friendships, her speech is built on slang and pop culture, where Oliver's is built around the books that he has read to fill the time he spends in his own company. He's an anti-hero.

Whilst Oliver's personality adds to the humour of the film, especially when joined with Jordana, his impersonal, non-touchy-feely girlfriend (their relationship has a list of rules, including “NO EMOTIONS”) there are scenes that really are quite gentle. Set in a quiet Welsh village, the surrounding landscape creates a calm atmosphere all by itself and whilst Jordana refuses to go anywhere that could be interpreted as a romantic setting, the country provides a soothing backdrop to their teenage shenanigans.

This is a really, really good film, it's funny and interesting and the cinematography and acting is brilliant. I enjoyed this film immensely.