The Goob, 2014.
Directed by Guy Myhill.
Starring Sienna Guillory, Sean Harris, Hannah Spearritt and Liam Walpole.
SYNOPSIS:
A teenage boy in the rural North of England experiences life after school, dominated by his mother’s overbearing boyfriend.
There were a few different press screenings at 3pm on Thursday 9th October. Both Guidelines, a film in contention for the Documentary award, and White God, winner of the Un Certain Regard and Palm Dog (yes, that is actually an award) at this year’s Cannes, were showing in adjacent theatres. I went for The Goob. I’d like to say it’s because the film’s director, Guy Myhill, is an exciting prospect, his debut being in the First Feature competition, or that he’s hailed as Britiain’s own Harmony Karine. But, in truth, it’s because the title sounded a bit like ‘boob’.
Every small community possesses a ‘Goob’; the kid that has a permanently snot glistened upper lip, the one that gormlessly stands outside Off Licenses, dutifully following whatever social group that has taken him in. The goob’s manifestation in The Goob (played with the piercing blue eyes of Liam Walpole) is as archetypal as Clint Eastwood in For A Few Dollars More, or Ryan Gosling in Drive. He has no name; he is symbolic of all goobs, great and small.
Our Goob’s small community is the rural wastelands in the North of England, a world of overcast fields, A-roads stretching into the horizon and service stations. Goob lives in one of those, which is run by his mother Janet (Sienna Guillory) and her overbearing boyfriend Womack (Sean Harris). The latter is terrifying, a constant force of anger in their house. He bullies them all, but when Goob’s brother is involved in a car accident, the abuse on him becomes more focused.
The film tells the story of how every friend Goob’s had or makes is driven away by Womack. If they’re men, Womack will intimidate them. If they’re women, he’ll sleep with them. If they’re homosexual, he’ll drive them deep into the night, strip them naked and force them to walk back clothesless and alone. Just as everyone knows a Goob, everyone knows a Womack.
The cast are terrific. Walpole’s line delivery is slightly wooden, but his character rarely speaks and his eyes more than make up for it. Guillory is harrowing in her commitment to Womack, and Harris as deeply frightening. There’s something about his chin, the absence of it. His mouth just slides into his neck. An underbite like that is usually a trait of the meek (see Muppets, Beaker), but in Harris’ wild aggression, it becomes yet another intimidation tactic. He has the same menacing energy as Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire).
But it is Myhill’s direction that will be winning awards. His style might not be as sweeping as Karine’s, but it’s just as poetic. Continuity editing is abadonded for a more expressionistic form of montage. Shots blend into each other like a music video, ignoring the conventions of time and space and communicating something deeper and more profound. This is a film concerned with communicating raw feeling over any form of technical narrative. An extraordinary work from a very exciting British director .
Flickering Myth Rating – Film ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★
Oliver Davis is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors. You can follow him on Twitter (@OliDavis)
Originally published October 19, 2014. Updated November 28, 2022.
