East England county Norfolk is a drab, scrappy location for Guy Myhill’s The Goob and it’s got just the atmosphere necessary to tell a tale of one family’s disquieting struggle with abuse and oppression that runs alongside the portrayal of a young boy’s – the family’s youngest – need for identity and a stable role model. Myhill’s strong sense of ambiance is perfectly complemented with some stunning work by cinematographer Simon Tindall, but a lack of commitment to the story and it’s characters certainly puts a dent in some of the crew’s meritorious visual work.
Goob is a repressed 16 year old boy fresh from celebrating his last day at school. The only nugget of advice we see him receive, from a bus driver: “get out of this shithole”. Independence doesn’t come easily to him though, and yet distance does. It isn’t clear whether or not ‘Goob’ is our protagonist’s real name (surely his mother isn’t that cruel) or an unattractive nickname given to him to mirror his lack of identity. Goob is close to his mother (Sienna Guillory) and older brother Rodney (Joe Copsey) but restrained in the face of Gene Womack, his mother’s oppressive new partner portrayed with ferocity by Sean Harris.
Nothing much happens in the film until Rodney is badly injured in a car accident, the result of a prank that destroys Womack’s prized racing car. Tension thickens, adding to the growing antipathy between Goob and Gene but the story holds off on the discharge until it’s ready to hit with a message about moving on.
With tension looming over Goob’s every move, he has the added struggle of trying to find someone to relate to. The teen isn’t exactly the most open and easy-to-like resident of his small community, only really showing signs of a deep-seated need to be free when he connects with cousin Elliot (Oliver Kennedy). What little joy Goob feels like he is allowed to express in and around his family is attributed to Elliot, a free-spirited and slightly erratic teen who shares a chemistry with Goob and an antagonism with Womack, the latter of which eventually leads to him leaving town.
A summer worker named Eva (Marama Corlett) serves as a vague love interest for Goob, and it’s love which inspires him to show a bit more independence and dynamism in the face of an increasingly frustrated – and perverted – Womack. The culmination of all that tension is fairly low-key, consistent with the restrained feel of the film, but it’s this slow-bubbling melodrama which settles The Goob snugly into it’s mold of social realism.
However, there are many dynamics here which would have added greatly to the story had they been explored with a bit more depth, particularly the seemingly strong connection between Goob and his mother, and the stubborn loyalty and attraction his mother has for Gene. The Goob requires us to use our imagination to fill in the beginning and the end of the story, but it’s this refusal to go any deeper which disconnects us significantly from the characters.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running time: 86 minutes
The Goob screened as part of the Sydney Film Festival. More details can be found HERE.
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