Spud

Spud (2010) is a South African coming-of-age comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Donovan Marsh and starring a young Troye Sivan alongside John Cleese. Set in 1990 — the year Nelson Mandela walked free — the film drops an ordinary scholarship kid into one of the country's most elite all-boys boarding schools and watches the culture clash unfold.

Spud Milton has nothing in common with his new classmates, who go by names like Gecko, Rambo, Rain Man and Mad Dog. His voice keeps breaking at the worst times, the school choir is a minefield, and the social pecking order runs on rules nobody bothered to explain to him. John Cleese plays the eccentric English teacher known as "The Guv," who dispenses life advice that is equal parts baffling and genuinely wise.

Based on John van de Ruit's bestselling novel, the film was a major hit in South Africa, where the book had already become a school institution. Cleese plays against type here — less slapstick, more weary warmth — and that restraint is what gives the film its unexpected weight. Stream Spud (2010) online on iFILM.