SOMERS TOWN Independent British director Shane Meadows’ well-deserved reputation as a visionary film-maker is kept firmly on track with the gritty, unglamorous yet ultimately delightful (and relatively short at 68 minutes) SOMERS TOWN.

Set in the decidedly un-trendy inner city London district of the title Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is a streetwise kid from the north of England escaping his grim surroundings for a possible shot at the big city dream.

Arriving at the huge St. Pancras railway station, he initially gets a bad taste of the capital after being mugged by three local lads before he ends up befriending Marek (Piotr Jagiello), the son of a Polish migrant working on the new Eurostar rail terminal.

The lonely young budding photographer takes pity on the rough Northern kid, and the two boys gradually bond after some petty criminal activity, and their shared infatuation with a French waitress Maria (Elisa Lasowski).

SOMERS TOWN is a small, yet perfectly formed, ode to friendship which here transcends culture, background and language (half the film is in Polish). The two young leads are both superb, and the minor characters all fit perfectly into the mix, especially Graham (Perry Benson), a dodgy Arthur Daly cheeky-chirpy Cockney type who runs a shonky business hiring out deckchairs and flogging off bootleg Arsenal Football Club shirts!

Director Meadows’ previous films include the acclaimed TWENTYFOURSEVEN with Bob Hoskins as the small town boxing coach, and the powerful THIS IS ENGLAND which also starred the charismatic Turgoose. Shot primarily in stark black and white SOMERS TOWN perfectly captures the dead end feel and atmosphere of the working class immigrant areas which are generally shunned by film-makers for the more colourful tourist friendly areas of England’s capital.

DVD extras: Theatrical trailer.

–> Interview with director Shane Meadows here

–> Article in Interview Magazine here

–> Somers Town is being distributed locally by Madman

MIKE CHILDS

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

Harry’s getting older and his adventures that much more harrowing in this the latest installment in the magical franchise.

Public Enemies

Gangster movie directed by Michael Mann. Starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. On a side note, Time Out New York called Mann’s Miami Vice one of the fifty best films of the decade! What the F. Murray Abraham were they thinking?!?

Julie & Julia

Starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep and based on the popular best seller. This movie actually cost me a jacket — and a nice jacket at that! I was watching them film a scene on the 7th avenue subway platform and leaned up against a post that had been freshly painted — YELLOW! Damn you MTA, and my unabashed curiosity!

Somers Town

The latest from director Shane Meadows, and re-teamed with his This is England star, Thomas Turgoose.

Three Monkeys

Best director award at Cannes for this Turkish neo-noir.

North by Northwest 50th Anniversary Edition

Honestly, what’s left to be said about this gem? Two documentaries and a commentary by writer Ernest Lehman, for which alone it’s worth picking up!

Chris Jones – he of the Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook, some well-regarded low-budget features, and no slouch when it comes to promotion – has recently published some film fest data on his multi-award-winning named-cast 35mm short, “Gone Fishing”. Any film which has picked up thirty-six (yes, 36) awards to date and which came within a gnat’s kneecap of getting an Academy award nomination, is not something to be ignored; except when it comes to the UK. Out of all the many UK festivals Chris submitted to – and remember that he is someone with a bit of a reputation – the film was accepted by a grand total of …two.

So, if that’s what happens when you’re Chris Jones, what chance is there for the rest of us?

Don’t just be annoyed, do something…. And one thing you can do is to sing the praises of the Cornish Film Festival – a fantastic event with a near total focus on Cornish filmmaking; and of the Salford Film Festival which this year made the burgeoning North West New Wave of underground shorts and features one its main strands.  What’s more this festival is now working with these filmmakers with the aim of taking the ‘best of the fest’ out across the region.

Dir: Shane Meadows, 2009

This is British cinema. Forget your stuffy period dramas, your Guy Ritchie gangster pantomimes, your Richard Curtis comedies – Shane Meadows is one of the few working filmmakers who makes British films. This was most evident in his recent tour-de-force This Is England, and is clear again from latest offering, the mockumentary Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee.

Comparisons will inevitably be made with Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap, and this is understandable. Both use a facet of the documentary style, and both feature characters past their prime but deluding themselves otherwise. But This is Spinal Tap (peerless in the genre as it is) was crass, loud and wholly American, whilst Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee is a much more subtle, British affair.

The action centres around Le Donk (Paddy Considine), a roadie fast approaching middle age. Le Donk shares a house with rotund white rapper Scor-Zay-Zee, and hopes to get him on stage at an upcoming Arctic Monkeys gig. Recording all of this is filmmaker Shane Meadows (Shane Meadows) and a documentary crew.

Early on, Meadows tries to explain to Le Donk the kind of film he hopes to make, by way of thematic references to his oeuvre. Le Donk agrees wholeheartedly, but it is clear that he has never seen any of Meadows’ work. This underlines the nature of Le Donk’s character: he is all talk. He can rattle your ear off with stories of his past exploits and his expertise in any number of areas, but it’s just a facade, disguising a deep insecurity. We wonder, at first, how such a person could really exist in the world outside the cinema, until we realise that we meet them every day. We may even be sitting next to one.

That is why Meadows’ film works. It’s characters, regardless of their fictionality, their position as artistic constructs, are entirely grounded in reality. As unlikely as the premise (and, indeed, outcome) may seem, the characters, being only mirrors held up to ourselves, help lend the kind of plausibility often lacking in the genre.

And, of course, the film is very funny. Reportedly shot over a five day period, the dialogue is entirely improvised. The cast and crew cannot help but guffaw at some of Le Donk’s more ludicrous antics, most notably his bizarre backing vocals to Scor-Zay-Zee’s performance. There is also firm support from a very pregnant Olivia Colman (on loan from Peep Show) as Le Donk’s estranged girlfriend, as well as real-life producer Mark Herbert and several honest-to-God roadies.

And, of course, there’s Scor-Zay-Zee. He is something of a find in himself: a surprisingly talented rapper, he also displays finely tuned comic timely, especially is a scene where Le Donk reveals his intimate side. Naive, quiet and modest, he is the perfect foil to Le Donk’s own brand of boisterous bravado.

Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee has a lot in common with Meadows previous film, Somers Town. Both are short, unassuming character studies which reveal something about Britain not often seen in the cinema. It may not have the same scope or ambition as some of Meadows’ earlier work, but this is still miles better than anything Richard Curtis has churned out.

It feels like a country age since I last put up a post of substance. Please accept my apologies for the slackness on the blog front as I’m writing my dissertation and the treatment / script for the next flick which will be shooting sometime around March / April. We’re currently in the process of cleaning up The Three Tenners for entry into next years Edinburgh International Film Festival so everything that can be crossed, is crossed for that.

The dissertation is on the subject of adaptation which has meant watching tons of interesting flicks. I’m on a little strand of the Roger Corman / Edgar Allan Poe adaptations so it’s maybe right I should bring some of this stuff to your attention, should you have seen them or not. There’s 8 of them in total which Corman made between 1960 and 1964….. That’s almost 2 flicks a year, and he was making films in between! 5 day features man, bring em’ back. Well I suppose Shane Meadows already has with Le Donk.

Anyway, here they are in chronological order….. Seek them out!

House of Usher (1960)

Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

The Premature Burial (1962)

Tales of Terror (1962)

The Raven (1963)

The Haunted Palace (1963)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

“I’m not crying and I’m not a big baby, am I? It’s called love, son.”

Shane Meadows is a filmmaker close to my heart. Very few contemporary British directors are making films as honest, heartfelt, and distinctly British as Meadows. Somers Town was produced hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed This is England. Thomas Turgoose returns as a teenage runaway who arrives in London and strikes up an unlikely friendship with Marek, an impressionable Polish immigrant played by Piotr Jagiello.

Meadows has chosen a smaller, more intimate film this time around. Of his previous work, it’s probably most comparable to A Room For Romeo Brass, although the sinister undertones and brooding menace of his earlier films are notably absent. Somers Town is a charming coming of age story; a clash of cultures centering on two young misfits who form an unlikely bond as they struggle to find their place in a strange and hostile city. It’s a simple story of friendship blossoming between two boys with nothing in common but their adolescence and their love for French waitress, Maria, played by the adorable Elisa Lasowski. The plot may be light, but the film is carried by its witty script, natural camerawork, and the undeniable charm of its characters.

Somers Town has received a fair amount of negative press for the way it was funded. It was commissioned by Eurostar as an advertisement to promote its new channel tunnel rail terminal in the area of London from which the film takes its name.  On the face of it, that sounds like a terrible reason to produce a movie, but thankfully Meadows escapes with not only his dignity in tact, but another fine film on his impressive CV. Aside from the looming terminal serving as a back-drop to the unfolding drama, and a dubious ending montage which I won’t spoil here, there’s virtually nothing in this movie to sing the praises of Eurostar. More than anything, this is an advert for Shane Meadows, screenwriter Paul Fraser, and rising star Thomas Turgoose.

Turgoose is surely destined for great things. Plucked from obscurity for his role in This is England, his performance was outstanding. Was it merely a clever piece of casting that saw an impoverished youth performing brilliantly as.. an impoverished youth? Somers Town is proof that it was no fluke. Turgoose’s natural talent, charisma and, more strikingly, his range of acting shine through in this film. It’s a more confident and nuanced performance and it suggests his best is yet to come.

This is by no means the best film Meadows has made, but it’s probably his most accessible, and certainly his most positive. You could argue that it’s too short, and lacking in conflict and substance, but as a sharp social commentary and a vehicle for its talented cast and crew, it works just fine.

'Hunger'

Alan Parker famously once said that he would leave the UK if Peter Greenaway were allowed to make another film. This was back in the Eighties, when threatening to leave the country was something of a pastime for the rich and famous, but it did reflect a frustration that Parker and others had about the direction in which the British film industry was going.

We make too many artsy films, they argued, the kind of films that confuse the man in the street and do little to promote the growth of the domestic industry. Instead we should be focusing on lively and entertaining cinema, films that pull in the crowds and tell a good story well.

Since then the British film industry has too often operated with these extremes in mind, unable to commit to one or the other. For much of the Nineties and Noughties we saw, on the one hand, self-consciously populist films that proved to be far from popular at the box office and, on the other, serious films that didn’t quite have the balls to take any serious risks artistically. Despite occasional successes (The Talented Mr. Ripley, My Summer of Love, Trainspotting, Ratcatcher) the overall mood was one of gloom, compromise and squalor.

Imagine my surprise then, when coming back to the UK in August after almost a year away, to find the country in the midst of a mini cinematic boom and myself with a whole lot of catching up to do. Ingmar Bergman in his later years reportedly watched every metre of new Swedish film that was released, and I found myself trying to do the same with DVDs, tracking down as many of the key works of this new British renaissance as I could find.

So what’s been happening here in the UK over the last, say, three years? Well for a start, we’ve been making some very good films indeed. Two of the best – Anton Corbijn’s Control (2007) and Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008) – are directed by artists who started life in other disciplines, Corbijn as a photographer and McQueen as a creator of video installations. Happily both men have a keen cinematic sensibility. In Control Corbijn goes beyond the clichés of the rock biopic to give us an honest and at times harrowing portrait of the life of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. For his part, McQueen tells the story of Bobby Sands and the IRA hunger strikers almost wordlessly, but with a palpable sense for the feel and smell and taste of things.

'Unrelated'

Also great are Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), of which you will have heard a lot recently, and Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated (2008). The first is in the much-criticised tradition of ‘kitchen sink’ drama, with teenage characters who call each other ‘cuntface’ and drink cheap cider in council flats. But, I would argue, as she tells her story Arnold leads us steadily away from genre conventions and towards themes that are pretty universal; betrayal, the process of growing up, and the need children have for a father.

On the more commercial side of things, we’ve had Frost/Nixon (2008), The International (2009) and, more recently, In The Loop. The latter is effectively a feature-length episode of Armando Iannucci’s TV show The Thick of It. Added to the usual mix of foul-mouthed political advisors and pusillanimous MPs are James Gandolfini and a storyline about the Anglo-American invasion of an unnamed Middle Eastern country. It may not break much new ground cinematically but it is intelligent and very funny, which is more than can be said for most UK small-to-big-screen comedy adaptations (Holiday On The Buses anyone? Kevin and Perry Go Large?). It also contains probably my favourite movie line of the year; “difficult, difficult, lemon difficult” says a character at one point (as opposed to ‘easy peasy lemon squeezy’).

Peter Capaldi says a rude word or two 'In The Loop'

Also conquering the world recently was Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), an astute blend of Hollywood and Bollywood genres, and proof that Britain (with a little help from India) can produce the odd quality blockbuster.  In the realm of documentary, Gideon Koppel’s Sleep Furiously (2009) chronicled a rural Welsh world of library vans, sheepdog trials and cake-making and was, along the way, rather beautiful and beguiling.

And at the schlockier end of the spectrum, Donkey Punch (2008) told the story of a cruise on a Majorcan yacht gone badly wrong. It’s a tense, bloody thriller, and exactly the kind of film that this country has in the past had so much difficulty producing.

Back in Artsville, I should also mention two promising debuts: Duane Hopkins’ Better Things (2008) and Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Helen (2009). Both are flawed but assured films from directors who have a very clear vision and, again in a break from the past, have been allowed to follow it through without interference.

This, it seems to me, is the key to the way things should be in the British film industry. The future lies not in self-consciously setting out to make one kind of film or another, but in diversity. Commercially there will always be a place for the odd costume drama or Harry Potter film but, beyond that, the truth is that it’s very difficult to second-guess what an audience will like. We can never compete with Hollywood on Hollywood’s terms, so let’s scatter our seeds far and wide, encourage as many different kinds of cinema as possible to grow in Britannia’s fertile fields and then, maybe then, we’ll have a few more hits and a few more beautiful misses on our hands.

The bad old days: 'Holiday On The Buses'

After all, there’s a hell of a lot to be optimistic about in British cinema at moment. We have prolific directors like Michael Winterbottom and Shane Meadows making films on their own terms, sometimes hitting the mark and sometimes falling short, but always in interesting ways. We have Ken Loach’s ongoing partnership with screenwriter Paul Laverty, which has seen the veteran director do some of his best work. We have Terence Davies, hopefully back behind the camera after last year’s Of Time and The City. And we have Andrea Arnold, Duane Hopkins, Steve McQueen and scores of other talented new film-makers working on their second and third features.

And Peter Greenaway? Well, maybe he’s cooking up something interesting too.

Absolute killer tune from Ken Booth, ooooh it brings me way back to the Bad Bellyman on Cork’s Radio Friendly. We used to tape his reggae show and play it all week, this is one that used up all my walkman batteries from rewinding all the time. Check the Version too, dubwise selection without objection! Quality.

Another tune keeping me awake in the studio is this mental live cut from Birdy Nam Nam, the french 4 man scratch and electronica crew. Hard to believe its 7 years old at this stage.

In other news, I’ve been having crazy dreams lately. One involved my upcoming show at Laz. All the pieces were in the gallery but I was still working on them a few nights before the opening. This dude from Shane Meadow’s fantastic This Is England kept breaking into the gallery and tagging all over my paintings.

Ok, the other day I said was going to see Up on Sunday. Well, I didn’t. I’m nothing if not inconsequential.

But I did get a double bill in, and possibly the most distressing double bill since I went to the then Peckham Premier a few years back on a Sunday to see the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Finding Nemo. I’ll leave it to you to work out which one of those was the most distressing.

Today I picked The Soloist, followed by Away We Go. If the following seems overly harsh or angry then I apologise. One of these films has put me in a hideously dark and furious mood.

Let’s get The Soloist out of the way quickly, because it’s not the offender, and I feel that on any other given Sunday I would likely be kinder.

Great cast. Three of my favourites; Robert Downey Jnr, Jamie Foxx and Catherine Keener. I’ll watch them in anything.

A sweet and true story, though a little slight; not much that can be done there since it’s true… and of course ongoing. So good luck in particular to the real Nathaniel Ayers (a schizophrenic and, initially, homeless musician played by Jamie Foxx who is exploited… sorry, helped… by LA Times journalist Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downey Jnr).

I like the director’s style, but I always feel he needs to relax a bit. It’s directed by Joe Wright. He obviously knows what he’s doing but sometimes I feel he tries too hard. Sometimes his direction gets in the way and shouts out at us. Other directors (Scorsese, De Palma) are flashy show-offs too but they seem to serve the story more. Joe (I feel I can call him Joe since he’s not gone for some high falutin’ Joseph, and also it makes me think of my grandpa and my godson, and so, in a long and roundabout way, makes me feel less shameful for criticising him when I know nothing) …Joe, does some great stuff, but it’s as if he knows it’s great and can’t stop himself from doing it some more. There’s a lovely moment where Ayers talks of the pigeons from the street rising and flapping their wings, clapping the music. It’s a poetic image that Joe brings to life. To the music of Beethoven the pigeons rise and fly up from the subway. We follow them. They fly by a bridge, they fly higher… the music and the pigeons fill our world. They soar. It’s beautiful and we get it. And then they fly straight upwards into the heavens, like Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2- Die Harder. Something lovely, through being overegged, becomes silly.

But I cried and felt that even if it doesn’t get the Oscars it seems to want it’s a film that has its heart in the right place, and we can only be moved and wish well to the people of the Lamp Community in their battle to end homelessness.

I’m starting to feel ill as I approach writing about Away We Go. No trailer is going to be put up here. No free publicity. If it’s true that there’s no such as bad publicity then what can I do? That’s that. I’ll do my best to give it the worst publicity going and no doubt increase it’s bloody box office. Hell, as I sit here in the foyer of the Royal Festival Hall, drinking my second pint of Theakston’s, I tap my computer keys so aggressively and with so much fury and anger someone has just come up and asked me if I am an installation.

Away We Go tells the tale of a quirky, sweet-natured couple who, upon finding they are going to have a baby and that the only living grandparents of the baby are about to move to Belgium, decide to go on a road trip, visiting friends and family thoughout the States and Canada. They do their road trip and they learn a thing or two. All sounds fine. But this is a film that takes the maybe somewhat elastic definition of an indie film and then chooses to… well, fuck it. And not in a nice way.

If, let’s say, Jordan represents all indie films, it’d be like she gave an interview to a Sunday tabloid and refused to name Sam Mendes as the man who so savagely abused her. Hell, I feel like he’s done me over too.

It might not be his fault. It’s not the actors. They all do their damnedest. This anger within me is not to do with liking this or that character; identifying with this or that character; hating this or that character. All my anger is firmly aimed at whoever wrote this piece of fraudulent shit. (Ok, I know it was written by two people- Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida- but I don’t want to know anymore about them in case I get cold feet and start to backtrack on how annoyed they’ve made me).

It’s just an out and out cheat of a film. No character is believable. The film would have worked better played as a Will Ferrell style arch comedy. Will Ferrell would have been great as the hippy nutjob of a partner to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character. They are visited in Madison and this is where one of the biggest cheats of the film takes place; just for the sake of a joke.

Our couple, Burt and Verona, ask another mother where they might find the Maggie character. With some venom, this seemingly aggrieved other mother points them in the direction of Maggie, declaring her to be the mother “without a stroller”.

Our couple meet Maggie and are quicky subjected to her alternative lifestyle.

In a later scene, our couple visit Maggie at her home and bring a gift. A stroller. BUT OUR COUPLE ARE NOT STUPID! THEY WOULD HAVE KNOWN FROM ALL THE PRECEDING SIGNIFIERS THAT THIS WOMAN HAD CHOSEN NOT TO HAVE A STROLLER AS A LIFESTYLE OPTION!!!

Bloody hell! How often do I use capitals? Or Unnecessary extra exclamation marks? I’m so livid. It was just a big CHEAT to create a supposedly comic moment that had no right to exist.

I’ve had it. I’m finishing my pint and I’m off. I would like to see this film put in a brazier. I would like to see Wes Anderson, Mike Leigh, Shane Meadows, Miranda July, Jim Jarmusch… and anyone lese who wants to join in… I’d like to see them all dump on this film and then drop a match in.

Let’s end on something fun. Here’s the trailer from a film I love. When is Miranda July going to make her next film?

Tonight we continue our decent into European cinema with the latest British hit Fish Tank.  The film is an exploration of life in inner city Britain and reflects the degredation of some aspects of British society.  It is worth noting that the film has been universally critically acclaimed and won the jury prize at the cannes film festival.  So if your interested in European, art house or good film then enjoy.  If not it is probably worth going back and reading the review of the Hangover or alternatively turn off the computer turn on your tv and watch Crazytown on repeat.  As this is what you deserve.

The film follows Mia (Katie Jarvis) as she ventures around her depressing existence on a housing estate in North London.  After run ins with a group of local teenagers (one of whom she headbuts), a group of travellers (who are mistreating a horse by a motorway fly over) and her mother(Kierston Wareing), Mia eventually finds her life turned upside down after her mother brings home Irish charmer Conor (Micheal Fassbinder).  As her mothers relationship develops with Conor so do her feelings for him.  They are drawn closer together until one night irretrievably changes their relationship.  This leads to Mia’s life crumbling down around her and leads to an incidence which has the potential to destrooys everyones lives.

The film is incredibly sad, this may sound a rather silly comment however   Mia is a character you both love and hate.  In one sense you feel for her plight and sympathise with her love of animal, in the other you see a street thug who is an alcoholic and acts without any restraint.   Her behaviour is so appalling at times that you find it hard to reconcile yourself with what she does. However you can see how limited her life is.  At one point in the film she has three possible routes for her life to go.  Due to her limited options caused by her upbringing and surroundings all of these routes either temporarily or permanently collapse. 

The hardest things about the film is that you know exactly where it is going to go at each revelation.  Director Andrea Arnold drags out the gaps between revelation and the conseqeunce to such excruciating lengths you feel like Charlotte Gainsbourg when she has her trousers down and a pair of scissor in her hands in Von Triers uplifiting Antichrist.  The film is definately one that warrants more than one viewing.  As this distance becomes less and less painful.

Michael Fassbinder undoubtedly steals the show as the charming yet phony Conor. He wonderfully plays between charming and menacing.  Conor is so charming and offers Mia and her sister a life that they have never seen with their selfish mother, you can instantly see why everyone falls for him.  When the film reveals the truth about him, you feel desperately sorry for Mia, his lies of stollen the only positive thing in her life.  The reason why deserves Fassbinder deserves the plaudits is that he skillfully hints at his secret all the way through.  His subtle performance makes the film tick and is the inspiration for most of the highs and lows.

Andrea Arnold uses the recent success of Shane Meadows work as the basis for the style of film, with This is England and A Room for Romeo Brass being significant features in the films DNA.  Strangely the mis en scene draws upon another British film The Damned United.  While the film is distinctive from both it still has qualities that are synonymous with contemporary British cinema.  Andrea Arnold deserves the plaudits she is gaining at the moment and will hopefully will have a career comparable to her contemporaries.

Overall – This is a superb film which hilgihts a great deal of waht wrong with British society.  If you’re a member of the BNP or thing Britain is faultless then avoid at all costs.  However, if not then this is a film to savour.

WARP RECORDS IS 20 YEARS OLD

things to be happy about…it’s hard to dislike anything that Warp produces, so I don’t. A constant source of supreme quality electronica and indie for two decades and a caustic window into the minds of some very creative musicians, designers and filmmakers.

Shane Meadow’s new film Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee

Warp20…the greatest record label in Sheffield…from Aphex Twin to Autechre to !!! to Squarepusher…to Plaid…to…Board of Canada…like theese

and Chris Cunningham (Do not watch if you are Ronan Keating..it’ll only make you worse)

the souvenir box set is out now on bleep

es so cool

Shane Meadows’ 2006 film, this is england, has quickly become a cult favourite, with its skin-headed, doc marten wearing, ska listening bases, which appeal to the people who experienced it, aswell as the people willing and wanting to look in.

It stars Thomas Turgoose as shaun, the main character a bullied 12 year old who turns to a light hearted welcoming gang to solve his troubles. With it being his debut performance not a lot would be expected of him yet, he turned out a superb natural performance which has now been likened to many previously succesful young actors, because of the way he adopted the role so well.

Full Cast

Thomas Turgoose
Shaun Fields
Stephen Graham
Combo
Jo Hartley
Cynthia Fields
Andrew Shim
Milky
Joe Gilgun
Woody
Jack O`Connell
Pukey
Kieran Hardcastle
Kez
Andrew Ellis (Middle)
Gadget
Vicky McClure
Lol
Rosamund Hanson
Smell
Sophie Ellerby (Left)
Pob
Chanel Cresswell (Middle)
Kelly
Danielle Watson (Right)
Trev
George Newton (Right)
Banjo
Perry Benson
Meggy

Reviews

Reviews are an essential part of a movie becoming a success and this one is no different. With them possibly being more important because of the need for interest to be drummed up about this independent film. The following are a few reviews and the main points from them which the author wanted to point out:

The Guardian – Peter Bradshaw. 4/5

• English cinema.
• Good performance from Turgoose.
• Sparky performance from Gilgun.
• “Vulnerable figures taken under the wing of older flawed, men.” the general theme for one of Meadows’ films.
• Violent subject, involving violent people.
• Telling and touching moments.

BBC Movies – Paul Arendt. 5/5

• Interesting, fizzing with energy and humour.
• Brilliantly engaging performances.
• The group is a far cry from the 80’s thuggery (to begin with).
• Honest, emotional, funny and deeply moving portrait of growing up.

The Times – James Christopher. 4/5

• Wonderful performance by Turgoose.
• Meadows’ has tried to explore the contradiction of what the skinhead culture was like.
• Based on Meadows’ actual childhood. as almost a loose autobiography.
• Personal and powerful testimony

Timeout.com

• Brave film to make in these times of political correctness.
• Makes definite comparisons to today.
• ‘Spot on’ performances.
• ‘Confrontational, incendiary stuff’.
• Makes Meadows’ one of britains most important filmmakers.

Interviews

There has been a few emerging stars appear of this cult film, with writer Shane Meadows portraying british life in the 80’s perfectly. Here is an interview with him describing what life was like for him in the 80’s. He talks about the fact he had never thought of making a film on this subject even though it was so suited to him, the boring-ness of social groups these days, with people just merging in with one-another and finally skinhead culture is spoke about, with the fashion aspect and his childhood in Utoxeter.

Thomas Turgoose turned out to be a stand out star from the film with his natural performance which has been likened to many former young british starlets. It was his first ever acting role, so the performance he made became even more surprising. In this interview alongside Shane Meadows, he speaks about how his life has changed because of the film and talks about what he used to be like. You can see his family is a big part of his life still and you see the background which he has been flung into the movie business from. Shane again talks about his life in the 80’s and shows how the film idea’s came about.

Film Festivals

Film festivals were an essential part in this particular film coming to the public’s eye. It received various awards which proved and backed up the fact that this wasn’t just an ordinary film, which should be left to just pass by. It was one which everyone should see, one that with its various accolades would be remembered for years to come. Some of its main recognition must come from these 3 awards which it received.

• Winner Of Best Film – British Independent Film Awards
• Winner Of Most Promising Newcomer – British Independent Film Awards
• Winner Of Special Jury Award – Rome Film Festival

These are just a few of the mentions and awards it received since the film has been released and generally it has been very well received by the public, especially by people involved in the skinhead movement.

Blogs + Fansites

The cult nature of this film would make you think that many a fansite or blog would be created in appreciation of this independent film. Yet this is only the case mildly with only websites which have sections on various films containing this is england blogs. For example fanpop.com which is a fansite for various films anyway. Another of these blog sites is blog.co.uk which also has an array of reviews and comments by watchers of the film expressing their opinions which at the end of the day are the most important ones seeing as they are the people who will spend the money watching. The popular movie site flixster.com also have a section in which the film has been well received and been extremely popular with almost 8,000 reviews so far.

Use Of ‘Talent’ To Market The Film

Shane Meadows decided to do this film in a different way to many directors, who constantly try and grab a mega star to get the views and don’t concentrate anywhere near enough on the film itself. Yet Meadows’ used often many unknown actors, Thomas Turgoose for example had never taken an acting role and until he turned up for the audition had never shown an interest in film and its aspects. This was mirrored throughout the film, with the most well known actor being Steven Graham who’d previously worked in a few films and television, his most noting parts coming in Snatch in 2002 as a fairly important character and in the tv show band of brothers. From his performance in Meadows’ film though he has become much more of a well known actor. You can clearly see with the film posters that the actors big names weren’t important, it was however important to get across the films storyline and instead of displaying names in giant letters he shows opinions and accolades which the film has received in its time.

Press Stories

Inevitably the film’s harsh storyline was goin to spark controversy, with its hard hitting morals and views, in which Meadows doesn’t hold back with his slight auto-biographical status in which the film represents. The main press stories involved with it, have been about the classification issues, with it being classed as an 18. Meadows and many film enthusiasts believed that this was wrong and that a younger teenage audience should be allowed to see it, seeing as the morals within the film are in a way aimed at that age group to show them how things have changed and also open them up to how things were. Here is by watershed.co.uk on bristol city council’s decision to campaign to change the classification. They were succesful and a few other places within England followed suit, these being Camden and Westminster. I personally were surprised that only 3 councils in the whole of Britain applied for the age classification to be changed.

Weather you have seen the film or not, you have surely heard about it at some point..the film im talking about is This Is England!

“An electric, stunning and powerful movie…The best british film of the year..” Jonathan Dean – TOTAL Film

” Magnetic ***** ” James Christopher – The Times

As you can see the film was highly praised when released, making it one of the best films ever made and was nominated for many awards like Best Screenplay and Best Film, and became the winner of several more awards  like the BEST FILM award and the SPECIAL JURY award.

The films director and actors all had their own oppinions on what the film represented….

The film became a enormous success and has its own official website http://www.thisisenglandmovie.co.uk and the director (Shane Meadows) now has his own blog as well, which has recently posted the news of a series being made about this is England, looking at the characters 4 years on.

This Is England has been around the world attending many film festivals, one of which happened to be London’s own film festival. This is England was so popular with its audiences that many fan sites popped up across the web, the main one being http://www.fanpop.com/spots/this-is-england.

I hope you enjoyed the information I have included in this blog, there is not much more you can get from me so i guess you will have to just go and watch the film..however if you have already seen it guess what…WATCH IT AGAIN !

]]> http://daynnightblog.com/2009/09/14/le-donk-scor-zay-zee-trailer/ Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:00:13 +0000 pashoncoop http://daynnightblog.com/2009/09/14/le-donk-scor-zay-zee-trailer/ http://cineablog.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/somers-town-shane-meadows-2008-chronique-cinema/ Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:07:16 +0000 cinéablog http://cineablog.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/somers-town-shane-meadows-2008-chronique-cinema/ http://corridorstylefilms.com/2009/09/10/le-donk-and-scor-zay-zee-trailer-arrives/ Thu, 10 Sep 2009 19:34:55 +0000 Corridorstyle http://corridorstylefilms.com/2009/09/10/le-donk-and-scor-zay-zee-trailer-arrives/ http://misterthi.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/this-is-england/ Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:30:57 +0000 misterthi http://misterthi.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/this-is-england/

1983. Shaun a 12 ans et vit avec sa mère dans une petite ville du Nord de l’Angleterre. Garçon solitaire et renfermé, il va s’émanciper en rencontrant un groupe de skinheads. Alors que les premiers instants sont baignés d’allégresse et d’insouciance, le retour de Combo, skinhead raciste récemment sorti de prison, va changer violemment le quotidien de Shaun.

Fidèle à la tradition de films anglais à vocation sociale, Shane Meadows prend comme point de départ cette jeunesse précarisée par les années Tatcher pour traiter du rite de passage de l’enfance à l’adolescence, marqué ici par la violence et le racisme. Pour rendre son propos crédible, le réalisateur se devait de trouver un acteur «authentique» sur qui reposerait le film. Il a donc auditionné de jeunes acteurs non professionnels issus de la rue et c’est ainsi qu’il a découvert le jeune Thomas Turgoose, véritable révélation et pilier central du film.

Si le scénario n’évite pas certaines facilités, la spontanéité et l’authenticité du jeu des acteurs ont vite fait de nous faire oublier les quelques petits défauts de cette production juste et généreuse.

This is Englandde Shane MEADOWS

VO AN st.FR. Durée : 97′.
A FILM, 2006, Grande-Bretagne

MA

I’m really looking forward to this Shane Meadows is one of my favorite directors, Dead Mans Shoes is in my top 10 films of all time and I really enjoyed This Is England and Somers Town.

Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee is an improvised, low-budget mockumentary shot over five days which follows Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee. Fifteen years ago Le Donk seemed to have it all. Now his life is shit. Le Donk has lived, loved and learned. Along the way, he’s lost a classy girlfriend in Olivia (Olivia Colman), but gained a talented sidekick in Nottingham rap prodigy Scor-Zay-Zee (who’s been around for ages, his track Great Britain is a UK Hip Hop classic) AKA Dean Palinczuk (playing himself) whom he decides to take on a road trip that he hopes will change both their lives forever. With Meadows and his fly-on-the-wall crew in tow, Donk sets out to make his protege Scorz-Ayz-Ee a star with a little help from British indie-rock icons The Arctic Monkeys.

Paddy Considine and Shane Meadows should be huge names. This probably won’t break them out, but damn I can’t wait for it.

Shane Meadows continues his highly fruitful relationship with Warp Films – a collaboration that to date has created modern classics Dead Man’s Shoes and This is England. Shaking things up a bit, he and producer Mark Herbert have embarked on a new venture – The 5 Day Feature. Cryptically enough, this involves filming a complete production in the limited time span of 5 days, the first fruit of which is “Le Donk”.

Posing as a documentary, we find Paddy Considine as the eponymous “Donk”, a roadie / blagger who is trying to get rotund rapper and tenant “Scor-Zay-Zee” a warm up slot performing before the “Article Monkeys.” Hot-headed Donk is a maelstrom of enthusiastic energy, firing off misinformed non-sequiturs and unpolished pearls of wisdom to anyone within earshot. Stopping off at Donk’s heavily pregnant estranged girlfriend (played by Olivia Colman), the limited film crew then follow Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee on the long drive from Nottingham to Manchester’s Old Trafford, whereupon Donk sets about finding some work for his protégé.

Considine is on the screen for nearly the entirety of this film, and when he isn’t, you can’t wait for him to return. Clearly improvising a lot of the dialogue, he’s created a believable and sympathetic character who I suspect will lodge himself in comedic consciousness for a long time to come. It would appear that Donk has been a character since the mid-nineties, but for much of the audience this film will be their first exposure to him, and one can only hope not the last.

Peppered with the odd cameo by the Arctic Monkeys, Le Donk plays like “Alan Partridge on tour with Bad News.” It is a heart warming little film that you will not want to end, and you will want to quote all the best lines to your mates afterwards. More Please!

Mike Leigh's Naked (ooh matron!)

My response to today’s Observer Film Magazine list of ‘The Best British Films 1984-2009′

My 15 favourite home-grown films of the last quarter century (in no particular order) are:

• In Bruges [not in The Observer list, made by FilmFour, a cracking script by Martin McDonagh]
• 24 Hour Party People [I'm not a huge fan of Steve Coogan but he's brilliant in this #24 of 25]
• Venus [Peter O'Toole and Leslie Phillips make a great double act, not in The Observer list]
• The Remains of the Day [deeply moving performances by Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, not in The Observer list]
• A Room with a View [perfectly executed film of its type, not in The Observer list]
• Naked [the fruit of David Thewlis' creativity #14]
• The Hours [Nicole Kidman shines among a host of brilliant actresses, not in The Observer list]
• The Constant Gardener [another powerful Ralph Fiennes performance, not in The Observer list]
• Last Resort [Pawel Pawlikowski bursts onto the British scene, not in The Observer list]
• Hunger [a bold, fresh artist's film from (the other) Steve McQueen but not an arty one #16]
• Chaplin [captures something of the greatest film-maker of all time, not in The Observer list]
• Secrets & Lies [a culmination of Mike Leigh's approach #3]
• In the Name of the Father [powerful acting spearheaded by Daniel Day-Lewis, not in The Observer list]
• A Month in the Country [a gentle, bucolic one - not in The Observer list]
• Defence of the Realm [a top-class thriller shot by Roger Deakins, not in The Observer list]
• The Commitments [energised by the powerful lungs of Andrew Strong, not in The Observer list]

Bubbling under: Borat, Howard’s End, High Hopes, Shadowlands, Johnny English, East is East, The Bounty, Son of Rambow, Billy Elliot

I enjoyed flicking through the pages of today’s Observer Film Magazine, The Nation’s Choice, focused on contemporary British cinema as I supped my Cullen Skink outside a pub on the Shore of Leith, winding down from the manic activity of the Edinburgh Television Festival, said soup surely worthy of sitting alongside Tarmac and Lino as a GSI (Great Scottish Invention). [It would have been fun to check out the online discussion the mag urges us to visit but after ten minutes searching for it on The Guardian/Observer site I gave up.]

Leafing through I realised this has been a fairly significant part of my life over the years, despite being more focused on telly – from the photo of my old flat-mate Emer McCourt alongside #21, Ken Loach’s Riff-Raff, to Loach’s producer Rebecca O’Brien who sat at the table I hosted at the TV BAFTAs a couple of years ago; from Mike Leigh who I met at Dick Pope’s around the time my first son was born (the same son who three years later slammed a heavy glass door onto the renowned director in a Crouch End shop) to Dick himself, one of my first bosses at Solus, who shot #3 Secrets and Lies (and much of Leigh’s oeuvre besides); from Ben Gibson, Director of the London Film School, with whom I was involved trying to set up a South African film/tv scholarship to Ewen Bremner, featured in both #1 Trainspotting and #14 the marvellous Naked, who I met when he was making a training film early in his career (written by John Mole and, unbeknownst to the casual viewer, based on Beowolf).

Beyond this punctuation of connections though is the steady presence of Channel 4, FilmFour, More 4, Britdoc (the Channel 4 British Documentary Film Foundation) – in particular, my esteemed colleague Tessa Ross whose fingerprints are on so many of the films (from Billy Elliot to #9 Slumdog Millionaire), dubbed recently the Mother of British Film-making. Choose Life is engraved on the glass doors of Channel 4’s Glasgow office in recognition of the Channel’s role in bringing the landmark movie that is Trainspotting to life. #11 Touching the Void was commissioned out of Peter Dale’s More4. #16 Hunger was patiently nurtured by my much missed colleague Jan Younghusband in Channel 4 Arts (her ex-husband Peter Chelsom made Hear My Song, which starred my friend Adrian Dunbar and whose script crossed my desk at Solus (and still sits in my bookcase) on its way to Roger Deakins, another of my bosses at Solus – the kind of thing which links the Channel 4 nexus and my pre-C4 web of experiences). The next generation is represented by Mat Whitecross, whose film Moving to Mars is being broadcast on More4 in November and was part-financed by Britdoc, run with flair by former C4 fellow Commissioning Editor Jess Search. I haven’t worked it out exactly but I’d say well over 30% of the Top 25 has FilmFour/Channel 4  input. Stephen Frears’ big break with #5 My Beautiful Launderette. From #17 Shane Meadow’s This is England to #10 Four Weddings and a Funeral, the full gamut. What an incredible record and a significant contribution to the last quarter century of British cinema.

I love Warp! Not the tour, but the label. Well configured scat based music and thought invoking films who’s emulsion is found through its mind expanding violence.

Warp Records is having a birthday party at Terminal 5 in New York, next month!  Battles, !!!, and Prefuse 73, amongst others will be playing!

Chances are that you are semi-familiar with the films and music that Warp is involved with, but have no idea. If this isn’t the case, I’m her to expand your interest for their well thought out entertainment with bright artistic quality.

I’ve compiled a short list of films released with Warp Films, that I happen to enjoy:

yoga for those suffering of hydrocephalus, as shown in Rubber Johnny

Rubber Johnny: The controversial collaborative video using the direction of Chris Cunningham and the music of Aphex Twin. Rubber Johnny shows a wheelchair bound teenager with a hyperactive imagination, locked in a dark basement with his Chihuahua.

Stephen Graham motioning to me for a hug during the movie This Is England

This Is England:  Shane Meadows cinematically alluring story that follows a 12 year old boys introduction to the skinhead culture, and how he is torn and effected by this Jamaican rooted culture as it spans out into a White Nationalist  movement.

Blood. Also can be used if you don’t have a pen handy! Example shown in Dead Mans Shoes

Dead Mans Shoes: A violent movie by Shane Meadows, that is based around an army paratrooper who comes home seeking revenge of the group responsible for tormenting his handicapped younger brother.

could you be any more charming, Stephen Graham?!

Scummy Man: a video I love mainly because it furthers my crush for Stephen Graham and his wise ass, shitty attitude, “crush you with my fist” character along his fat cheeks and beady eyed baby face, of course. The video is alongside the Arctic Monkeys song “When the Sun Goes Down” Its the story of a young prostitute and an abusive clients (swoon) control over her, as people try to lead her into a ‘better life’. The short story begs the question “Is anyone inherently good?”

Fluorescent Adolescent: Another Arctic Monkeys music video directed by Richard Ayoade. I’m a pretty big Ayoade fan. He one point  acted on The Mighty Boosh when it was still a radio based show. The director also acts as the adorably misguided dork Maurice Moss in one of my favorite comedy shows The IT Crowd.

Anyways, The video features Stephen Graham as my beloved wise assed leader with a shitty attitude, “crush you with my fist” character along his fat cheeks and beady eyed baby face….in clown make up. The entire video is revolved around a fight between a group of clowns and a more civilian-like group. As the video progresses you see that the two leaders were at one point friends. There is something extremely amusing and slightly poetic about this videos slow motion fight sequence  in an abandoned district. You expect an obvious ending but just in music video style, something slightly more tragic happens.

They also put out that new Yeah Yeah Yeahs video.  I’m not a huge fan of, musically, but I do love the wolf in it! Probably because reminds me of Booga from Tank Girl

.