The Goob (2014)

Fresh and Exciting

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Two words - spare and edgy. I love catching a film I know nothing about and enjoying it so much that bedtime gets later! The Goob is such a beast! The story is as old as time; son don't get on with evil new step dad, but it done so well, so low key that it is fresh. Cinematographer Simon Tindall achieves the impossible; making Norfolk look dreamily beautiful, harsh, ethereal and always with an undercurrent of menace. Director Guy Myhill does a great job - he takes his time but builds up the atmosphere, the story and the tension with skill and care. There is real romance here, and the many different ways of searching for it. There are believable comic interludes and there is no padding. Lead Liam Walpole is hypnotic and totally convincing, even when totally still! He looked spookily like Richard Ashcroft live on stage at Glasto!

Set during a hot summer we meet Goob who at sixteen has spent his time helping his mother out at her roadside café and farming pumpkins in the adjoining filed. Sounds a bit dull, but there is always the stock car racing and his mum falls for a womanising violent cliché of a man in the shape of Womack (Sean Harris '71' and 'Southcliffe') who likes to race his battered old motors. He and Goob do not get on and the inevitable friction develops with the very easily foreseen violence.There are asides to the story and some well observed teenage bonding and Elliot (Oliver Kennedy) makes for a very diverting interlude. Goob also starts to explore his own sexuality -in being attracted to one of the foreign seasonal workers – completing the coming of age theme.This is a film with a linear narrative and no back story. It relies on an immediate connection with the players and that is often very sparse as there is not much time to build empathy. That said the performances are all assured with only a few clichéd moments, and they mostly work given the context and the fact the Womack is a bully and therefore a child and a coward. All in all a well made independent film, that will not be to everyone's taste but has enough to ensure that we see more from writer and director Guy Myhill – recommended to fans of truly independent films.

Was pretty impressed by this, Sean Harris as usual is a nasty violent angry man, but does it so well you can't help but like the guy, he would scare me thats for sure if I came to blows, he's the kinda guy albeit small and weasel like that would fight to the death and never back down.The movie reminded me of some aspects of other movies, namely Sex & Lucia where she is riding on the motorbike, the director had most likely seen this movie, but did it well in all honesty and replaced Paz Vega with 'The Goob', and also The War Zone, Tim Roth's only directorial debut.The main character Goob did a great job for a first time job, and Oliver Kennedy was very good, and sure to see him in lots more.I would rate it a solid 6, maybe a 7 if you wanna see Sienna Guillory getting ass banged against a wall lol!

There is an awful lot of popcorn pap that comes out of Hollywood that doesn't deserve the attention given, so it is refreshing to see a film that has no fuss. The Goob is a wonderful film, very much in the tradition of Tyrannosaur and Fish Tank and tells a local story of life in the Fens. Some new faces and the lead is mesmerising and convincing as a young man on the edge of manhood.Very reminiscent of Tyrannosaur with some tough acting, characters and life in the raw, sometimes not pretty but recognisably real.Go see it, this is a good story, fantastic acting and the Brits have the best nutters!