Lightbulb Film Distribution
There are about a billion musical genres out there, many of which have absolutely devoted fan cultures — some are more recognized than others, and even among them increasingly divided subcultures. Thus we get to the ‘Mod’ era which reached its peak popularity in the ’60s and ’70s in the UK, with a revival of sorts in the ’80s. The subculture (like many of the sort) did not simply include music, but the whole ‘lifestyle’ and philosophy — perhaps the most mainstream band that appealed to the mod types was The Who, but otherwise I really have almost no exposure to their music.
The Pebble and the Boy comes from writer/director Chris Green and is liberally peppered with music from Mod mainstays like Paul Weller and The Jam, which is something that adds a certain sort of environmental touch to the movie. The movie follows recent high school grad John Parker (Patrick McNamee) who lives in Manchester in a fairly unremarkable life thus far.
On a whim and a thought, John decides to take the one thing his father left him, a classic scooter, and bring his ashes to spread in Brighton, a seaside town known for its association with the Mod scene — albeit half the country away from his hometown Manchester. There are references a’plenty about Mod pop culture that entirely went over my head, but that’s just me — I’m sure Mod fans will pick up more.
As to be expected, the road trip is filled with ups and downs, some coming of age realizations, and internal changes to be made along the way. A little while after John is off on his trek, he runs into some issues and connects with an old friend of his father’s for help — and of course, the similarly aged daughter Nicki (Sacha Parkinson) immediately decides she’s coming along for the little adventure, as her life is just about as unremarkable.
There’s theoretically a romantic vibe meant to be between them, but I never really bought that — their rapport certainly felt friendly, but far more platonic and ‘cousinly’ than romantically. Still, it’s fun to watch the two have their little adventures, even if the scenes of travel can be a bit repetitive and sometimes a bit dull.
When the two actually have their various stops and discover things about their parents and their past, that’s far more interesting — it’s hard for me to simply be engaged with the Mod worship because it’s really a fairly meaningless pop culture for me, so a lot of the tricks for ambiance and soundtrack are nice, but ultimately just part of the background.
I get the feeling that Mod fans will definitely get a kick out of the vibe of this movie, but otherwise, it’s really just a sort of run of the mill coming of age road trip film, not really exceptional but decent enough way to spend some time, even if at times you’re simply wondering if you recognize the score or the location the kids are traveling through. As for me, it’s ultimately just okay.
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The Pebble and the Boy has a run time of 1 hour 41 minutes and is unrated.
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