Spud

What it's about:

South Africa, 1990. Great political changes are coming to the country as Nelson Mandela is about to be released from prison. For John "Spud" Milton (played by Troye Sivan), however, 1990 will always be the year that he started an unforgettable four years at a private boarding school for boys.

What we thought:

John van de Ruit's Spud novels have deservedly been a tremendous success in this country so it was hardly surprising that we now have a feature film adaptation of the first novel. What was less of a given was whether or not the diary-entry format of the novel would lend itself to the big screen. More than that, even assuming that the film would work for South African audiences, it's still uncertain as to whether it would manage the crossover to international markets. The latter question remains, to date, unresolved but the makers of the film can take pride in knowing that, a few niggling problems aside, Spud more than delivers as a very good, satisfying piece of cinema.

The biggest hurdle facing screenwriter/director Donovan Marsh in adapting Spud for the big screen was clearly how to take a the very literary device of the diary entry and turn it into something that would work on the audio-visual medium of film. After all, more than anything else in the novels, it is the immensely likeable first-person voice of our young protagonist that makes them as charming and resonant as they are. Converting that to screen was never going to be easy. Even a certifiable classic like To Kill A Mockingbird lost something in translation as the film shifted the focus away from the novel's central character, 12-year-old Scout Finch, to her father, Atticus.

For Spud , Marsh turned to the always unreliable voice-over, a decision that, while understandable, is probably the film's biggest flaw. At the best of times, voice-overs are tricky to pull off, not only because they often disrupt the flow of the story being told but they all too often commit the cardinal sin of filmmaking: they tell, rather than show you what's happening on screen. It seems that Marsh realises this too as he leans less and less on Spud's narratiion as the film progresses. Puritanical fans of the books may protest but it would probably have been best had they left the diary out of the film entirely. Even having Spud turning to talk to the camera, High Fidelity style, would have been preferable.                  
 
It especially didn't need the narration because Spud actually manages to stay very faithful to the plot of the film, a plot that actually lends itself wonderfully to the big screen. Better still, Marsh takes full advantage of the medium he is working in by bringing the musical school play, on which much of the action hinges, to glorious life on screen in a way that never could be done in its original print form. The visual gags too, work even better here.

Most importantly - and this is the reason why Spud should work every bit as well for overseas audiences as it does for South Africans – Marsh and his fantastic cast capture all of the humour and melancholic teenage angst that made the novels such riveting works of fiction. Spud clearly follows in the respectable tradition of angst-filled teenage cinema that stretches all the way back to Rebel Without a Cause right up to the latest Harry Potter film. Indeed, Spud and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows would make for a superb, if lengthy double bill.

If all this isn't enough to ensure universal appeal, Spud can also sell itself on having the Living Legend that is John Cleese in his finest role in years. The rest of the cast may more than hold their own as the wonderfully weird collection of characters that inhabit Spud's crazy yet real world but, as opposed to the books where plenty of attention is placed on The Crazy Eight (Spud's eclectic assortment of dorm mates), the film's focus lies squarely on Spud and his eccentric, foul-mouthed English teacher The Guv. Cleese wasn't just a natural fit for The Guv as he brings all of the unmistakable dry but off-the-wall hilarity of his best creations to the fore but he also gives a hefty dramatic performance filled with pathos, subtlety and heart. And to think that they originally wanted Hugh Grant for the role!

Not to be outdone is SA-born Australian actor Troye Sivan, who is equally excellent as Spud. He seems rather uncomfortable with the voice-over, unsurprisingly, but he is a thoroughly charming presence as a kid who is by turns naïve, likeable and clearly in way, way over his head.          

I know that the accents might take some getting used to – hell, even as a South African, I am always thrown off by South African accents on screen – but Spud really deserves to take the world by storm.