Not so studly, Spud

18 Nov 2010

This Donavan Marsh-directed coming-of-age movie is based on the first of the popular Spud series of books by John van de Ruit. It's about a young boy (John Milton, or Spud, played by Troye Sivan) who goes to boarding school in Kwazulu-Natal on a scholarship and experiences many things like friendship, crushes, awkwardness and growing up.

It is a cute movie, with many relatable experiences.

Comparison to the book

But... here is the obligatory comparison to the book: Given the time restraints and the human attention span, the movie is not as in-depth as the book. The book contains more hijinks from Spud and roommates, collectively called the Crazy Eight, and a better development of The Guv's character and Spud's friendship with him. However, the movie achieved the same purpose as the book: to entertain and stir up high school nostalgia.

Set in SA in the 90s, the movie (less so than the book) does mention the struggle, but this doesn't affect the story, it's just context.

The acting all round was good, with a surprising lack of hamminess. The performance of John Cleese, as The Guv, stands out, but this could be because he is the most famous of the cast members, and also played the most charismatic character. Most of the other actors are local, and have little or nothing else on their filmographies.

Christine almost cartoonish

Some aspects of the movie did feel forced, rather than real and natural. One example of this is a female character called Christine, who is unattractive and promiscuous - our first glance of her is with messy hair and braces and she goes on to behave almost cartoonishly. None too subtle.

One thing that was spot on, though, was Troye Sivan's awkwardness as Spud. He was well cast, and did the role justice.

It feels like South Africa seems to be entering the world media's consciousness as a place with stories and not just gloom and doom news. The popularity of District 9 and the A-listness of Invictus have shown us that the country is no longer being ignored. With hope, movies like Spud will continue to come out of the country, attract big names, and normalise our presence to the world.