Submarine

This spirited and warm film debut from TV comic Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd) has been adapted from the 2008 novel by Joe Dunthorne. Submarine is a retro coming-of-age tale narrated by nerdy 15 year old Oliver (Craig Roberts) set in 1980’s Swansea.

Oliver’s chief concerns are trying to lose his virginity to his realistic girlfriend (Yasmin Paige) and keeping his parent’s marriage from falling apart. His dad is a deeply depressed ichthyologist (scientists who study fish!), whose profession provides the film with its central images; his mother is a discontented civil servant drawn to an old flame. It’s a stylish, touching film much influenced by the French New Wave. It has been described “a bit too cool for school” but also as visually distinctive and consistently witty.