I like what I've seen so far of Shane Meadows—
Dead Man's Shoes was great, and
This Is England has one of the tensest five minutes I've ever seen on screen and is probably one of my favourite films of last year—so I was really looking forward to this.
Shot mostly in black and white, it tells the story of Tomo (
This Is England's Thomas Turgoose), who has run away because he's got “nothing to go home to.” He gets beaten up, his things are stolen, and when the kindly woman he met on the train takes him to a café for some breakfast, he meets Marek: a slightly older Polish teen with a penchant for photography. In particular, Marek enjoys taking pictures of Maria—a waitress in the café he frequents.
After a bit of a rough start, the two hit it off and Tomo ends up hiding in Marek's flat, which he shares with his father who spends each night drinking and appears to have little time for Marek between work and drinking with his friends from the buliding site where he works. Tomo continues to hide in the flat and the pair spend their time chasing Maria and getting up to high jinks, with the help of wheeler-dealer neighbour, Graham (Perry Benson).
A lot of press has surrounded the fact that this film has been sponsored by Eurostar. Marek's father is working on the station, and there is a slightly forced mention of it at the end of the film, but it is in no way an out and out advert for it, thankfully.
Thomas Turgoose is great as the hopelessly endearing, well, wide-o, for lack of a better term. Newcomer Piotr Jagiello is endlessly sweet, and is perfect in his role as the frustrated, lonely Marek. Maria (Elisa Lasowski) is just gorgeous, but her part could have been extended slightly. There are some funny moments, and the friendship between Marek and Tomo is genuinely sweet, and it's interesting to see how two such different characters can have so much in common. Perry Benson and his dodgy dealings are pretty funny, and the shirt he hands Marek will make you chuckle.
However, it would have been nice to know a little more about Tomo and what he was running from. Probably deliberate, but it nagged at me a bit nonetheless. Also, maybe a bit more about the problems facing Marek as a young Polish boy would have been to its benefit. Its a lovely film, but it seems to side-step any real issues and therefore seems to lack any real depth. Also, it's pretty short. An extra half-hour would maybe have given a bit more time for the characters to really develop.
Worth seeing, but dont expect
This Is England.
Somers Town is in cinemas now.
