Harry wants to adopt the SON OF RAMBOW at FANTASTIC FEST!!!

Harry here, taking a break from Fantastic Fest to let my brain recharge – to process what I’ve seen today… to update you on a fantastic film that I’ve just seen. The film, SON OF RAMBOW is due out for a limited release in the United States some time in 2008. It has played at Sundance, Seattle and Toronto thus far, but it’s the latest film from the director of THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, a Garth Jennings… and with this film, he seriously hikes it up several notches. I really enjoyed his take on HGTTG, but that was one of those films that could never really compare to the brilliant book. At least for me, I’d read the book several times and while I very much enjoyed the film, it was an echo of the tale I’ve played in my mind, countless times. SON OF RAMBOW, however, is something entirely new. In an odd way – it feels a bit like something that Neil Jordan would have made. It has that particular regional-ness about it – that certain place, certain time that he seems to love to play with in his films… save, this doesn’t take place in Ireland, but somewhere in England – The film takes place somewhere around 1985 and 1986 – between the British release of FIRST BLOOD and YENTL… seriously. The film begins upon a marquee of a theater playing FIRST BLOOD, while a religious group volunteers a young boy to read from the BIBLE in front of the theater. This boy is Joshua played brilliantly by little Neil Dudgeon… He’s a child that has been brought up an abused child. No, his parents don’t beat him. Rather they pray with him. What’s so bad about that you may ask? Well, he’s never watched a film, never seen a television show, no comic books… What a poor abused boy. He’s so desperate for imaginative release that he draws upon the pages of his Bible – he has a talent for animation, which is ironic as he’s never really seen animation – he has a self-taught talent for it. Meanwhile, inside the theater we see an audience armed with cigarettes in every mouth – and as we pan, we come across a boy, Will played by young Bill Milner. He’s sitting with his legs crossed upon the back of a chair in the balcony – and old VHS camcorder aimed at the screen smoking a cigarette – he’s around 10 years old – same as Joshua. They’re fated to meet in a hallway at their British School. Joshua is in the hallway because his class is watching a documentary and he isn’t allowed to watch television – and Will is in the hallway for hijinks with a Tennis Ball. As Will hits the hallway – he sits on the floor tossing the tennis ball like Steve McQueen in THE GREAT ESCAPE… His Will is equal parts Steve McQueen, Bart Simpson and Francie Brady – bad bastard. He’s a scoundrel and a loner – a kid that’s been left to essentially take care of himself and to be an entity unto himself. When he and Joshua hook up – and he leaves Joshua suspended from the rafters in a boat watching his pirated copy of FIRST BLOOD – the experience completely warps Joshua. He was completely unprepared for the experience of a movie of the startling impact that FIRST BLOOD did. He instantly is transformed to want to play Rambo, to be SON OF RAMBO – and a friendship, a blood brotherhood is formed between Will and Joshua – and the result is contrary to everything that Joshua was brought up to believe in…. but at the same time, it transforms him from being the freak at school that nobody could understand, to being a talent that attracts others to the production. The film is filled with flights of fancy, waking dream states and wonderful nightmare inspirations all birthed from a boy whose imagination is unleashed through this singular experience with cinema. This isn’t just a film for those of you that love RAMBO and Sylvester Stallone – it’s for every kid that saw a film and turned a stick into a RPG or M16. It’s for kids that turned sticks to swords, six guns and horses. It’s a Calvin and Hobbes film with a great deal of soul. The audience loved this film and afterwards circles upon circles of folks gathered about to chat about the wonders of childhoods recaptured. There’s a lot about the film I’m not telling you, but trust me when I say – you’ll laugh at loud through out at the surprises that Garth Jennings has in store. Also – I’d just like to address something I’ve heard often here at FANTASTIC FEST, which is a concern that this film would put the “RAIDERS kid adaptation” film at risk. If anything, this should be a wake up call for how and why it should be made. Daniel Clowes has created a wonderful script. This is a British tale, while RAIDERS’ is a distinctly American tale based on a story that is on a much larger scope. That tale takes place from childhood to manhood, this is about a single semester of school. A very different tale. This film will whet the appetite for the potential that the Raiders tale will have. That said – it’s one helluva appetizer!