Richard Ayoade is very much the IT man of British comedy at the moment. Few truly fashionable parties are complete without an invitation having been nudged through his letter box by an increasingly busy agent. A naturally handsome man with aloof self-deprecation and a rigorously crafted geek persona he has, in addition to adulation for performances in cult TV show, The IT Crowd found himself cast in the position of an unlikely sex symbol. Now, having been so defiantly successful in all aspects of life thus far, Ayoade has now tried his hand at directing feature films and, quite typically, he appears to have taken to this discipline like a duck to water. His source material of choice was
Submarine, the debut novel from Welsh author, Joe Dunthorne, which depicts the war of a creative but nervous adolescent against a multitude of adolescent neuroses; along the way demonstrating an inventive spin upon the familiar trope of a teenager fleeing the curse of virginity. Ayoade has, seemingly done the darkly comic tone of the books romance considerable justice as, filmed initially without pre-determined distribution, its reception at Toronto, London, and now Sundance, has been such that theatrical rights have been acquired in the UK and North America. Critical reaction has been almost exclusively positive, and Ayoades increasing celebrity - though still somewhat cultish- will be sufficient to garner the attention it deserves across the UK upon its release. Optimum pictures have taken the opportunity of the Sundance Festival- where, once again, reactions have been positive - to unveil a series of trailers, as well as a poster featuring the films confused protagonist, Oliver (played by
Craig Roberts):
Now that a theatrical release in the UK has been confirmed, it can be expected that promotion will go into overdrive within the next 8 weeks and will be eagerly anticipated in Swansea, the city in which it is set. Although, it maybe speculated, the storys brooding, introverted whimsy may provide a rather jarring disparity to those that embraced the last breakthrough film set in the city, Twin Town. Submarine is released in the UK on March 18.