SUBMARINE (Dir. Richard Ayoade)
Remember a few weeks ago I reviewed 500 Days of Summer, and I ripped into it, concluding that it was a 'glorified hipster wank'? Well, I think I just found a film made in the same vein of filmmaking, yet one that's enjoyable and really does touch you.

OK, forgive me some sentimentality and adoration with this film (it's not even a Wes Anderson film); I've just watched it and I was hooked. Slowly my evening turned from 'let's watch the start of Submarine then do some homework' to 'erm, wow... hold on, another ten minutes...' And why? Because Submarine is (ironically) immersive and beautiful. Pure contemporary filmmaking at its finest - from the custom-made font in the titles to the brilliant awkwardness of it all. It's the story of young love, and first love, from the perspective of the intelligent yet witless Oliver, a teenager caught up in the throes of teenagehood.

It's important to note that neither Oliver nor his girlfriend ever say 'I love you' to each other, and herein lies Submarine's genius, telling a love story without telling a complete love story - and by that I don't mean telling it backwards starring Zooey Deschanel. Submarine is effortlessly acted, or so we see in the few scenes the characters get a chance to show anything other than awkwardness; and its setting - a remote Welsh coastal village - is core to its message and its vintage atmosphere. There's even a touch of the classic French romantic film near the start, but unfortunately it doesn't last the course of the movie as the plot dips temporarily into that thoroughly British 'family issues' cliché I had hoped we'd shaken off in the 70s with Mike Leigh.

Nonetheless, the film endures to its sweet, almost-but-not-quite happy ending, leaving us with that little sliver of final footage missed out so we can come to our own assumptions. Ayoade, in his directorial debut,  leaves a lot unsaid, creating a beautiful lightness and subtlety to the film's quirks and tropes. Submarine is really nothing like 500 Days, and I feel almost stupid comparing the two, but I want to show this blog's hipster readership that if you want to tell a good story, you don't need Joseph Gordon-Levitt and dozens of sickening character quirks to do so. All you need is a charming script and a couple of bashful Welsh teenagers.

★★★★★