Submarine

Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is 15. He's also a virgin, and is not too happy about it. Oliver has two major goals: To pop his cherry before he turns 16 - mostly by attempting to woo aloof smoker Jordana (Yasmin Paige) - and to stop his mother (Sally Hawkins) from leaving his father (Noah Taylor) for new age smoothie Graham (Paddy Considine).

Submarine may sound like your average coming-of-age comedy, but in execution it's anything but average. Oliver's seaside Welsh town may be drab and depressing, but his colourful and overly verbose use of language gives the film a fresh and hilarious identity all its own. Oliver takes himself and his problems with utter seriousness, and his endeavours to find an identity and fix his parents' marriage - from pipe-smoking in the woods to writing fake love letters between his mother and father - are done with such utter conviction that they are simultaneously hilarious and touching.

Played with unironic earnestness and the kind of wide-eyed fear usually reserved for deers on motorways, Roberts is a perfect fit for Oliver Tate, who inversely is such an out of place character that he doesn't even seem to understand himself. His busy narration guides the film, taking us on a snapshot journey through his past follies and idiosyncratic view of the world. It's in these sections that the director, sitcom actor Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace) makes his presence known, as he clearly understands how to let an image do the talking; he has a unique sense of space and decor, and surrounds his actors with wonderful and eclectic scenery.

However, it would be reductive to say that Ayoade is simply "the British Wes Anderson", as while he does seem to share the American director's affectations for style and over-talkative protagonists (see Rushmore), Submarine has a completely different visual vocabulary to Anderson's straight-on portraiture. While the film begins with open vistas of the coastal town Oliver lives in, the camera isn't afraid to get close to the characters and their lives, allowing us to soak up every detail, from the posters on Oliver's bedroom wall to the notes left on packages by his mother.

The cast are uniformly excellent, with Sally Hawkins' Jill bringing the perfect amount of middle-class awkwardness and motherly foibles. Paddy Considine as the ridiculously-haired philanderer Graham toes the line between performance and caricature, but manages to pull it off after a rare humanising moment toward the end. Noah Taylor is particularly affecting as Oliver's depressive marine-biologist father Lloyd, his uncomfortable exchanges with Jill scratching the surface of love gone stale. It's the moments between him and Oliver, too, that are some of the most touching, with childhood stories and father-son talks revealing the much about the story: Oliver loves his father dearly, but doesn't want to become him.

It would be unfair to leave out Yasmin Paige's performance as Jordana, as her stark delivery and no-bullshit attitude brings a much-needed reality check to Oliver's flights of fancy, and the realistic story of their relationship is likely to remind many a viewer of their own sickeningly romantic teenage loves.

Boasting an equal number of laughs and affecting moments along with a distinctive visual flair and a melancholy soundtrack (courtesy of The Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner), Submarine is probably the most exciting and genuinely moving debut by a director in a long time, and I for one can't wait for what Ayoade does next. It's sure to develop a cult following among hipsters and indie bloggers, but don't let that put you off - it really lives up to the hype.

Submarine is released at cinemas on March 18th.