Submarine (an article for http://studentlondon.tumblr.com/)

A friend of mine recently started a new blog geared towards the generally empty-pocketed student population of London. If your living in the city and feeling strapped for cash then StudentLondon should be your first port of call. It's dedicated to bringing the best music, food, film, fashion and general good times the city has to offer, straight onto the computer screens of students from Camden to Camberwell ( and beyond). There are a bunch of us contributing to the blog, so please do go and check it out because its got something for everyone. This was my first offering :

Having your parents come to visit has its perks. It usually involves an enjoyable amount of free food, and as is the case with my film-buff family, a trip to the cinema. For those of you not fortunate enough to have been born to two people who are supremely adept at sitting in a dark movie theatre for hours upon end  (we occasionally do triple bills and it’s a well known fact in our house that popcorn and maltesers is a respectable evening meal) there is always studentbeans.com.

The website offers 2-4-1 cinema tickets at Cineworld  Monday-Thursday, so all you need is a hot date or a friend to drag along with you.

Recently I went to see Richard Ayoade’s directional debut ‘Submarine’. Admittedly, being a major IT crowd fan I probably would have paid to go and see Ayoade direct a dead fish, such is my faith in his abilities to amuse. But this film was far from dead fish material.

Clearly taking a leaf out of Wes Anderson’s book of all things cool, quirky and deadpan, Submarine was a visual treat combining comedy and a touching tale of young love in suburbia, set to a soundtrack by Alex turner.

If this all sounds a little bit dickhead to you, that’s probably because it is. The film included a scene that I can only describe as an ode to super-8 cameras, which appealed immensely to the side of me that thoroughly enjoys ‘new age fun with a vintage feel’.

Don’t let this put you off though, above all things this film is chuckle inducing, and Craig Robert’s Oliver Tate will probably steal a tiny piece of your heart with his ironic voice-overs and self-indulgent fantasies in which he contemplates suicide and the resulting funeral. I realise this doesn’t quite sound like it has heart stealing potential, but trust me; Ayoade manages to pull it off. Somehow, this melancholy tale of a fairly mundane adolescence in Swansea is tender and sentimental, whilst ensuring a grin stays on your face well after you’ve finished your Ben and Jerry’s.