Tags
cinema, film, Garth Jennings, movie, religion, Son of Rambow
Cute enough to be endorsed by and viewed with the namesake of this blog, Son of Rambow‘s strengths flourish in its first half, when its story’s spontaneity is driven by that of its central characters who are eventually forced to submit to a formulaic conflict-and-resolution second half that wholeheartedly embraces a strikingly overt rejection of religion as seen through a tiny sect of Plymouth Brethren before feeding the audience the ending they want and expect but not necessarily the one that satisfies most, hearkening back to such fun-to-watch-once almost-gems as Little Miss Sunshine.
This reminds me of “The Catastrophe of Success” which Tennessee Williams wrote before A Streetcar Named Desire debuted. He was totally terrified of being a one hit wonder.
Hrm. Your comment reminds me of the previous post on Adaptation., actually. I wonder to what extent it might apply to the writer/director of Son of Rambow. I read that the makers of Little Miss Sunshine made something like five different endings to the movie, screened them all for test audiences, and went with the one that got the best response. Of course, this is surely done with more films than we would want to know. And I’m guessing Tennessee had a little more integrity than that. The ending of Streetcar isn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser.
Aha. I seem to, um, be totally incapable of commenting on your blog, Z. This was, of course, intended for the Adaptation entry. I think I will stop commenting altogether since I cannot seem to grasp the fundamentals, like “post reflections on relevant blog entries.”
Nooooooo! Don’t give up! How does one little, very understandable, flub constitute being “totally incapable”? I’d rather have your thoughtful comment on the wrong post than a “wow, great review, you’re really swell” on the right one.
No, I am incapable! Remember a few months ago when I couldn’t spell and I kept writing incoherent things?!
You are really swell, btw.
I agree. I think it would have been interesting if the movie had not included the overt rejection of fundamentalist religion, and had the main character still be interested in film. Then they could have called it Son of Rambow: The Mel Gibson Story. Think of the possibilities.