Somers Town (2008)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Shane Meadows

Writer:

Paul Fraser (written by)

Release Date:

15 July 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A black-and-white study of a social environment in London, concentrating on a pair of unlikely new friends and the girl they both fancy.

Plot Keywords:

Friendship | Train Station | Unrequited Love | French Girl | Place Name In Title

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Piotr Jagiello	...	Marek
Ireneusz Czop	...	Mariusz
Perry Benson	...	Graham
Thomas Turgoose	...	Tomo
Kate Dickie	...	Jane
Wojciech Olczak	...	Polish Friend
Wojtek Macierznski	...	Polish Friend
Ben Porter	...	Office Worker
Jamie Belman	...	Office Worker
Steve Hillman	...	Construction Worker
Mark Monero	...	Construction Worker
Ryan Ford	...	Local Kid
Levi Hayes	...	Local Kid
Risade Campbell	...	Local Kid
Huggy Leaver	...	Cafe Owner

Runtime:

71 min | Germany:75 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Polish | French

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:12A | Sweden:7 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Champ de Mars, Paris 7, Paris, France

Company:

Mother Vision

Trivia:

When Maria is speaking to the French man in the café where she works, the man is in fact talking about his digestion problems.

for my money, better than 'This is England'

Though clearly a bit of a "quickie" project made in the immediate afterglow of This Is England - and featuring that film's young star Thomas Turgoose in one of the two main roles - the DV-shot, (mainly) black-and-white, minimal-budgeted 'Somers Town' is by no means a "minor" Meadows. Indeed, in terms of tonal consistency, concision and cumulative emotional wallop, it's in several ways a more satisfying enterprise than its bigger, BAFTA-winning "brother". Indeed (again), there have been very few more moving films from any director since Meadows' own Dead Man's Shoes (2004) - though in this instance it's very much a case of joyful rather than sorrowful tears. This is a delightful, quietly topical, deceptively slight miniature about teenage friendship and first love - scarcely new subjects for cinema, but handled with sufficient sensitivity, humour and spirit to emphatically justify such a choice of material. Meadows and his scriptwriter Paul Fraser, meanwhile, deserve particular credit for so deftly maintaining such a delicate balance between the bouncily engaging story and its sad, even tragic subtexts.