The Pebble and the Boy (2021) Film Review
Setting out to make a film about the mod subculture shouldn’t be a hard task. At all.
It’s well documented, we got tons of information available, and let’s face it, it’s still alive somewhere.
But here’s the thing about subcultures: not everybody understands them. even if they understand their existence. Mods are this exceptional part of the population whose expressions were ladened with artistic values that everyone mistook for rebellious behaviour.
And in The Pebble and the Boy, there’s none of this. Absolutely none. The film’s instead solely based on an emotional adventure that has nothing of that subculture. Yes, it’s a risky move, but one that works at the end. The Pebble and the Boy tells a universal story in a garden that mixes “coming of age” with quirky romantic comedy. Its performance in the genre isn’t a hard task because it doesn’t aim to tell the story of the subculture it uses. We’ve seen this before, only not with a “mod” filter on it.
The Pebble and the Boy is the story of John, a young man who decides to embark on a journey after his dad has passed away. Taking his father’s ashes with him he starts the scooter and sets off from Manchester to Brighton. His goal is to scatter his dad’s ashes on the place he loved the most.
But as John goes on his trip, he begins discovering some facts about his father he wasn’t aware of. He questions himself as he also starts discovering things about himself and how he relates to others. John’s encounter with death, lets him find love, friendship and his true self.
The film’s thoroughly assisted by its soundtrack and its production design. Both of these regard a production value that’s admirable. However, the film’s script lacks the very soul it needs in order to be a highlight in the genre. As I mentioned before, we’ve seen this in the past with better characters and a deeply compelling story that didn’t go back and forth with its safe treatment of a character. We know John’s dad wasn’t a saint and the film suffers tremendously to be apologetic about him. This “manipulation” plays down the character of John.
And if we stay purely in its sympathetic agenda of “let’s throw John every stereotype there is to see how he reacts”, the film is actually funny at some point. The problem is those laughs are based on a storyline that’s too predictable and not very attractive. The Pebble and the Boy stays in a very confusing tone to fulfill the comedic and dramatic elements and nothing more. The viewer is left with nothing emotional enough to grasp onto.
Could it have been better with an honest rendition of mods? Absolutely. There’s a story there to be told. But properly designed characters are needed to take us on a trip that feels necessary. In The Pebble and the Boy we’re left in the hands of an insecure fellow who doesn’t look or feel like any of us.
