I feel as if I've seen 1000 indie movies about very "special" teen boys, their odd parents, their loss of virginity, their self-involvement, with pop music soundtrack over inevitable scenes of them walking alone on the beach/city street/park. Yadayadayada. At least in this case it's not the filmmaker making a self-congratulatory semi-autobiographical film about how "special" he was (so special we have to see a film about his very special specialness! Oh joy.) The problem with all those films is all the boys are is: self-congratulatory, self-involved, cruel, clueless, irritating, average, and not nearly as "special" as some parent or progressive school(or for that matter, executive producer) told them they are. Whatever lesson was allegedly learned here in this version of that clichéd tale was undercut by the very last scene, so there's no moral redemption for this boy's casual cruelty, crimes, and other offenses against people. The whole thing felt misogynistic to me as well. So it's episode 9999 in The Squid and the Art of the Submarine, or whatever, and please save me from the next episode. Note to wannabe filmmakers: I don't care about your first sexual experience! I don't! Not even one little bit!
Review of Submarine
