''Submarine'' is a 2010

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film written and directed by

Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...

and starring

Noah Taylor Noah George Taylor (born 4 September 1969) is a British born Australian actor. The accolades he has received include nominations for three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics' Choice Award, and four AACTA Awards. He is best known for his ...

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and musician. He is known for playing antiheros in independent films. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard British ...

Craig Roberts Craig Haydn Roberts (born 21 January 1991) is a Welsh actor and director. He is best known for lead roles as Oliver Tate in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film ''Submarine'' (2010) and David Meyers in the series ''Red Oaks'' (2014–2017), and f ...

Yasmin Paige Yasmin Paige (born 1991 or 1992) is an English actress. She played the film role of Jordana Bevan in ''Submarine'', and has appeared on television as Beth Mitchell in ''Pramface'', and Maria Jackson in ''The Sarah Jane Adventures''. Life and ca ...

and

Sally Hawkins Sally Cecilia Hawkins (born 27 April 1976) is an English actress of stage and screen. She began her career on stage and then moved into film, for which she has received several accolades including a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominatio ...

. It is based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Joe Dunthorne, and is an international co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States. ''Submarine'' is Ayoade's directorial debut.

Plot

Oliver Tate is an unpopular 15-year-old who is infatuated with classmate Jordana Bevan. After Oliver teases another girl to get Jordana's attention, she invites him to meet secretly after school and takes pictures of them kissing. Jordana uses the pictures to make her ex-boyfriend Mark jealous; Mark roughs up Oliver, but Oliver refuses to say that Jordana is a slut. Jordana becomes Oliver's girlfriend and, after a couple of weeks, they have sex in his bedroom while his parents are out. At home, Oliver becomes concerned about his parents. His father, Lloyd, is depressed. New-age guru Graham Purvis, an ex-boyfriend of his mother, Jill, has moved in next door, and his flirtations rouse Oliver's suspicions. Oliver's relationship with Jordana grows, but he learns that her mother has a potentially fatal brain tumour. At an early Christmas dinner at Jordana's house, he witnesses her father break down. Unsettled, he decides that the Jordana he loves is at risk because the emotional events surrounding her will "make her gooey in the middle." Rather than visit Jordana's mother in hospital, as he has promised to, he loses his nerve and cuts off contact. Thinking that his mother and Graham are having an affair, Oliver attempts to repair his parents' relationship. While searching for his mother on the beach, he is stunned to see Jordana with another boy. Walking home, dejected, he sees his mother with Graham and assumes the worst. Enraged, he breaks into Graham's house, gets drunk, and commits minor acts of vandalism. When Graham comes home, he finds Oliver but returns him home with minimal fuss. The next morning, Oliver awakes to see that both his parents are not angry with him and are reconciling. Oliver remains distraught about losing Jordana; he is downhearted for weeks, until he sees her on the beach. He runs to her and apologizes, learning that Jordana does not actually have a new boyfriend. Together, they walk several inches deep into the sea, smiling.

Cast

as Oliver Tate *

as Jordana Bevan *

as Jill Tate *

as Lloyd Tate *

as Graham Purvis *

Gemma Chan Gemma Chan (born 29 November 1982) is an English actress. A graduate of Worcester College, Oxford, Chan began acting during the late 2000s, making her film debut in 2009. She rose to attention with her leading role in the Channel 4 science fiction ...

as Kim-Lin * Melanie Walters as Jude Bevan *

Steffan Rhodri Steffan Rhodri (born 1967, in Morriston, Swansea) is a Welsh film and television actor, best known for portraying bus driver Dave Coaches in the BBC comedy series '' Gavin & Stacey''. Early and personal life Steffan Rhodri was born in 1967, i ...

as Mr. Davey *

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known for his blend of slapstick humor and sharp wit, Stiller rose to fame through comedies such as ''There's Something About Mary'' (1998), ' ...

as Soap Opera Star *Darren Evans as Chips

Production

Casting

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

and ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' contestant

Lucie Jones Lucie Bethan Jones (born 20 March 1991) is a Welsh singer, musical theatre actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of '' The X Factor UK'' in 2009, where she was the fifth contestant eliminated. She repr ...

were originally cast in the film but dropped out due to other commitments.

Filming

The film was produced by

Warp Films Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield and London, England, UK. History 2001 – 2012 Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. It was initially ...

and

Film4 Productions Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4 Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing many films made in the UK. The company's first production was '' Walter'', directed by Stephen Frea ...

. Principal photography began on 26 October 2009 and filming finished in December 2009. Filming locations in Wales included Swansea, Cardiff, Rhondda, and Barry.

Soundtrack

Six original songs were written and performed by

Alex Turner Alexander David Turner (born 6 January 1986) is an English musician. He is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Arctic Monkeys. Turner is known for his Songwriter, lyricism ranging from kitchen sink realism to surrealism, surreal ...

, the frontman of

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

. The soundtrack charted at 35 in the UK Album Chart. The original score was composed by

Andrew Hewitt Andrew Hewitt (born March 28, 1976) is an English composer based in Los Angeles. Training Hewitt received classical training from childhood as a pianist and tenor singer. He earned music scholarships to the Westminster Abbey Choir, Uppingham S ...

, long-time collaborator of Ayoade, recorded at Air Studios with The Composers Ensemble orchestra.

Release

The film premiered at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010. Following a generally positive reception it was picked up by

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company, LLC (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein on March 10, 2005. TWC was one of the larg ...

for a North American release. The film also played at the 54th London Film Festival in October 2010 and was played out of competition at the

27th Sundance Film Festival The 27th annual Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20, 2011 until January 30, 2011 in Park City, Utah, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival opened with five screenings, one from each ...

in January 2011. It was also screened along with 400 other films at the

61st Berlin International Film Festival The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the president of the jury. The Coen Brothers film ''True Grit (2010 film), True Grit'' opened the festival. 300,000 tick ...

the next month.

Critical reception

''Submarine'' received positive reviews from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a score of based on reviews from critics, with an average score of . The website's critics consensus: "Funny, stylish, and ringing with adolescent truth, ''Submarine'' marks Richard Ayoade as a talent to watch." At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 76 based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film 3/4 stars, saying, "''Submarine'' isn't an insipid teen sex comedy. It flaunts some stylistic devices, such as titles and sections and self-aware narration, but it doesn't try too hard to be desperately clever. It's a self-confident work for the first-time director, Richard Ayoade, whose purpose I think is to capture that delicate moment in some adolescent lives when idealism and trust lead to tentative experiments. Because Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige are enormously likable in their roles, they win our sympathy and make us realize that too many movies about younger teenagers are filtered through the sensibility of more weathered minds."

References

External links