Son of Rambow is a 2007 British
comedy-drama film written and directed by
Garth Jennings. The film premiered 22 January 2007 at the
Sundance Film Festival.
It was later shown at the
Newport Beach Film Festival,
Seattle International Film Festival,
Toronto International Film Festival, and
Glasgow Film Festival.
The film was also shown at the 51st BFI
London Film Festival.
Son of Rambow was released in the
United Kingdom on 4 April 2008 and opened in
limited release in the
United States on 2 May 2008.
Set during an English summer during the early 1980s, the film is a
coming of age story about two schoolboys.
Plot
Will (
Bill Milner) is quiet and shy, and comes from a family that belongs to the strict
Plymouth Brethren religious sect. Will is forbidden to watch films or television and is made to leave his classroom when the teacher puts on a documentary. In the corridor he meets Lee Carter (
Will Poulter), the worst-behaved boy in school, thrown out of another class for bad behaviour. They accidentally break a fish bowl in the corridor; Lee volunteers to take the blame, pretending that the punishment is torture, in exchange for Will's watch, which belonged to his dead father. Moreover Lee demands that Will performs the
stunts in a film Lee is making with his bullying older brother Lawrence's (
Ed Westwick)
home video equipment, which he uses in his video pirating enterprise. He intends to enter the
Screen Test Young Film-Makers' Competition.
Will accepts; after seeing the film
Rambo: First Blood he becomes very enthusiastic, and plays several dangerous action scenes. The two become best friends, but Will has to keep it secret from his family.
