The Scouting Book for Boys
The Scouting Book for Boys
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By Adam Leveridge
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Monday, 15, Mar 2010 05:41
Directed by Tom Harper, out in cinemas March 19th, starring Thomas Turgoose, Holliday Grainger, Susan Lynch, Steven Mackintosh and Rafe Spall, running time 92 mins.
What's it all about?
Best friends David (Turgoose) and Emily (Grainger) live a carefree life in a Norfolk caravan park. The teenage pair are totally inseparable until Emily learns her alcoholic mother Sharon (Lynch) has lost custody of her, meaning she'll be forced to move away and live with her father.
The pair set about creating a series of circumstances which they believe will result in Emily being able to stay but their innocent game soon becomes complicated as her real reason for escaping comes to light, shattering David's life and forcing him into action to keep his best friend with him forever.
What the others say
"Tom Harper's directorial debut captures the ill-at-ease and gawky nature of encroaching maturity and the burden of misplaced longing, playing out with the same sense of foreboding as Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills while set against a similarly hazy and cruel-looking summer." - Empire
"This far-fetched tale of a deception gone terribly wrong begins energetically but soon turns ridiculous, hobbled by pedestrian dialogue and poor side characters." - Variety
"A twisted Romeo and Juliet for the Skins generation." - Guardian
So is it any good?
For a teenage boy there aren't many things more harrowing or utterly depressing as being rejected by your first true love. During the transition to manhood, young boys frequently experience crushes that border on obsession, a deep love that fills their every thought and renders them almost paralysed when faced with the object of their desire. Girls though can remain oblivious to this emotional fixation, in part due to their quickened speed through maturity and in part due to boys' crippling fear of ridicule and rejection manifesting itself outwardly as total ambivalence. The dilemma is a common one yet never before has it been portrayed so vividly and in as achingly accurate a manner as Tom Harper's Scouting Book for Boys.
The story of a teenage boy struggling to connect with his believed soul mate is brilliantly expressed here by the painfully shy David who can never tell Emily of his affection for her until it's too late. From the start the chemistry between the two is obvious with some of the scenes between them, both before and after Emily's secret is revealed, crushing in their realism.
The path they travel together, backed by a beautiful soundtrack from Noah and the Whale, coupled with the simplicity of the surroundings make the touching tale of two friends maturing in front of each other a delightful watch. The end though will rip the heart out of your chest as David faces the prospect of losing his Emily for evermore and decides to take action dramatically into his own hands.
Turgoose is faultless as the naïve snivelling lead displaying depths of emotion that leave you desperately wishing for his character to find happiness. Grainger too is superb - brilliantly portraying the crude, aggressive and cock-sure teenage girl. Admittedly some aspects of the film away from the two leads don't gel so well; Lynch's alcoholic mother for example appears to be some kind of parody of Amy Winehouse complete with beehive, eyeliner, and the obligatory bottle of vodka in hand. Steven Mackintosh's chief police officer also comes across as some kind of bizarre pantomime villain whose aggression and odd characteristics look totally out of place in the story.
The supporting actors though are in reality, irrelevant, as its Turgoose and Grainger who provide the emotional core of the film and wow what a core it is.
It's hard to believe there will be a deeper film this year - a remarkable fact given the age of the leads. Scouting Book for Boys then is a truly astounding piece of work and absolutely essential viewing.
9/10
Richard James