Review of Submarine (2011) by Ian G — 14 Nov 2012

I was greatly relieved to have enjoyed Submarine as much as I did. After seeing the trailer, I couldn't tell if it was going to be an enjoyable story with good characters and comedy, or a bag of quirky gimmicks. But the movie turned out to be really fantastic.

The most immediate comparison I can give Submarine is how much its vibe matches the style of Wes Anderson. Many of the characters deliver deadpan humor and much of the comedy is dark (but I laughed out loud many times through the movie). I feel that Submarine matches the best of Wes Anderson's movies in how it develops its seemingly robotic, un relatable characters into a very human cast.

The main character, Oliver Tate, deals with very mature matters in his relationship with his girlfriend, Jordana. On top of this, he is trying to handle his parents' crumbling relationship that he knows way too much about, due to his prying.

While Oliver can sometimes come across as being too quirky, he is humanized enough through the movie for me to still like him (same with about every other character in the film).

This movie is topped off with an interesting setting (Wales) and a really cool soundtrack. Check it out!