Analysis of The Guardian's review on Submarine. The 2010 debut film of Richard Ayoade starting Craig Roberts as Oliver Tate.

1. Thisstill fromthe filmimmediatelysuggestingtome that OliverTate isan isolatedboywhospendsalotof
time only.The dumpsettingforthisshotsuggesta bleakandhopelessmood to this shot while Oliver can
be seencontemplatinginthe bathtub. The bath tub resonant with the dark and odd comedy style of the
filmperfectlyandactsas a visual elephant in the room type prop for this shot, which is great as it leaves
so much up to the readers imagination in what is the relevance of the bath tub and if there is one. The
photoitsvisual verysymmetrical aswell assuggestinginfluencesof WesAndersonstyle cinematography.
The photos caption “Tapping into new talent … Craig Roberts”, is a pun related to the bath tub location
which work really well and sets a light-hearted mood for the review but also a perfect tone for a debut
film.
Clarifying the genre
with bright and easy
to spot heading
placedunderneath
the ‘culture’ & ‘film’
section.
Onlineplatformof the
guardian newspaper – logo
found in top righthand corner
Brief introbefore reviewgivinga plot synopsis as well as
advertising the fact its Ayoade’s first film.
The 4 star rating above the brief introsuggests a goodfilm
and something theywouldrecommend the film, and
consideringthis is a debut film this is veryimpressive.

2. The review shows great admiration for Richard Ayoade and the film
and the genuine surprise they have of enjoying the film feels very
honest and comes across slightly taken-back. “But nothing in his CV
prepared me…” The admiration of Ayoade’s debut film is declared
through the Guardian’s use of flamboyant adjectives which flatter
the poetic themes of the film. The stunned reaction of the Guardian
continues to the end of the paragraph and made clear with the
phrase “sprung on us”, this physical description emphasises the
shock but not in a negative way with “sprung” holding the
connotations of cute animals.
“Dark coming-of-age comedy” this simplistic summary of the films
genre perfectly encapsulates the features themes and sets a tone
for readers letting them know immediately this is something very
new and different to other teen film they’ve encountered before.
The hyperbolic language continues with lexis like “lovelorn. This
tells me as reader that the film is definitely more mature that the
average teen film and is more intellectual than may first appear.
“Ayoade's film has absorbed the influences of Wes Anderson and
Michel Gondry in its deadpan ironies and block capital sans -serif
titles” – mentions the clear influence of the director helping the
audiencevisualisewhat this filmwill perhaps look like based on the
combination of Wes Anderson and Michel Gondry films. However
this knowledge of directors gives certain snobbery to the film that
could confuse some reader but still attract the avid cinephille.
“Ayoade can hardly be faulty” – this words are extremely
impressive when talking about someone’s debut film hence why
this sentence has such gravitas. The adoration carries on in the
same poetic tendency, “His filmis shaped with flair,coolly allowing
us to enjoy its unrealities and to savour the suspicion that a thirty
something’s sophistication and cinephilla have been sneakily
backdated into a teenager's life to offset his emotional
vulnerability:a protective nostalgia.” The “vulnerability” of the film
lies in the themes of the filmand the factit’s a debut filmas well as
the topic of a coming-of-age so it obviously shows a very sensitive
and troubling time.
The review uses very descriptive language allowing readers to
create clear and vivid visual images whilst reading.
The continued name-dropping carries on into the next paragraph –
“Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead”. This not only suggest the critic
is knowledgeable about films and shows clear enjoyment in film but
also highlights the cinephilla tone which I’ve found throughout the
review. The interesting use of the name-drop however comes from
the comparison of viewing experience between Wright and
Ayoade’s films and their directorial styles over two films. This helps
boost interested in Ayoade and his projects through linking to
another much-loved British cult comedy film which has done
extremely well. Also from this statement I feel you can identify the
type of audience Submarineattracts as itwould be similar to thatof
Shaun of the Dead is senseof the quick and dark use of humour and
the artistic way of filming.
“A duffle coat-wearing loner” – I love the use of obvious character
description which clearly introduced Olive, in both appearance and
nature, but the way it doesn’t give too much away at the same
time. I feel this description says everything you need to know about
Oliver Tate. The same is done with Jordanna’s character who’s
detailed as “who wears a faintly disturbing red coat”. The brash
descriptions reflect Ayoade’s style completely and are used in a
way that makes theme almost charming.

3. “The glorious note of self-pity” – very poetically
written and thoughtful showing a clear appreciation
for the film as well as humorous tone to help the
review be assessable to the average reader.
Having “fantasy” and “suicide” isn’t exactly words I
would normally pair together however this
juxtaposition in the sentence proves the depths of
the dark elementsandthemesinthe film.The subject
of death, grief, illness and affairs all covered within
the filmprovingthatit’sno average teen-comedyand
so much more calculated and artistic. It really stands
alone to some other teen-comedies out right now in
my opinion. Anexample of the taboo comedy can be
seen in the final sentence where a quote from
Oliver’s mother captures the type of humour
throughout the film accurately – “I gave Graham a
hand job in the back of his van."
There is great use of bathos in this paragraph which
complimentsthe darkcomedystyle of the filmaswell
as Ayoade’scharacter,"Olivermaintains the stunned
expressionof someone who has been slapped in the
face with a fish”.
The summaryof the review isconciselycapturedwith
the phrasing,“this movie will have a Marmite taste”.
This use of the cultural icon Marmite is a great
example of the obscure references within the film
that Oliver associates himself with but at the same
time leaves the perfect opening for people to form
their own opinion as this film clearly may not be to
everyone’s taste.
However like thought the review still until the end
praisesAyoade’sproductionandpredictsgoodthings
for him in the future, “a tremendous new voice in
British film”