Somers Town [DVD] (2008)

The publicity surrounding this film on cinema release was pretty impressive due to the fact that Shane Meadows's previous films have been pretty gritty, however it did deliver the goods. Shot in black and white, it's the story of Tomo, a teenager running away from a dodgy home life in Nottingham who journeys down to Somers Town (near St Pancras, London) and meets Polish immigrant Marek who lives with his construction worker father in a nearby estate. They form a bond after Tomo is mugged and both become enamoured with a Parisian waitress who works in a cafe nearby.

I found the characterisation to be particularly adept and Meadows weaves a number of amusing situations throughout the screenplay, one highlight of which was when Tomo steals a bag of clothing from a laundrette and ends up looking like 'a female golfer!' There is also an amusing moment when the boys' dodgy dealer/trader extracts a tenner from deep within his underpants. Many of the locations of the film were familiar to my husband, who grew up in the area and some of his family still reside in the area. I found the running time at 68 minutes to be perfect but the fantasy type ending kind of ruined an impressive film as it really hammered the point home that Meadows was hired to produce a film to publicise the new St Pancras Eurostar terminal.

This is the first time I have sat through a Shane Meadow's film and been anything other than totally impressed. I am not sure if it was just because I wasn't in the right frame of mine when I sat down to it (I was very tired and unable to concentrate hard) or if it's just an unengaging film, but I really found unable to connect with the characters or care about the story.

It's a tale of Thommo (Thomas Turgoose), running away from life in Nottingham to see the big city. Once there he strikes a `friendship' with Marek, son of a Polish construction worker in Somers Town, near King's Cross/St Pancras. They have a series of unlikely adventures based around their shared passion for Maria, a French girl who is a waitressing at a local cafe, and their involvement with a local dodgy wheeler dealer geezer.

The film is made with Meadow's usual gritty realism and eye for the detail of everyday life, from the images of the young lad on the train making polite everyday conversation, to the council estates in which the characters live. This is juxtaposed with flashes of humour that sometimes tickle, but in the main do little more than raise a weak smile. The basic flaw, I felt, was the character of Thommo. After having spent an hour in his company I really couldn't stand him, or the way he bullies and abuses Marek. Marek was also irritating in that he never even tried to stand up for himself. Theirs is a very abusive relationship, and I felt both characters were people I have varying levels of distaste for. Especially the quite horrible Thommo. Because of this I just could not get involved in their story.

That's not to say I think the actors are bad, I think they did a great job of portraying their characters. And occasionally there was a moment that was either sweet or funny that I could relate to or was amused by. But overall it was a film that left me pretty cold and bored.

The ending is a bit at odds with the rest of the film. It seems a bit fairy tale, and almost a commercial for the Eurostar. I like the oversaturated film technique though, it took me right back the home films of the early eighties.

All in all, not a film I engaged with very much, so only 2 stars.

"Somers Town" is being considered by many as a mini-project for director Shane Meadows before his next big feature. This said, it is remarkable just how satisfying a viewing experience this movie is. Even though it only runs for a paltry 68 minutes (!), it does not feel by the end that we have been short-changed. In actual fact, the length seems pretty near perfect.

Meadows is a superb and prolific film director, and it's great to see so many of his trademarks occuring here - namely, plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, superb improvisation from talented actors, sympathetic characters, visually arresting shots of English council estates and an elegant folky soundtrack to underpin the imagery. All the ingredients are here.

The plot of Somers Town concerns a young lad, Thommo, who has entered London as a runaway from his native Nottingham. He is promptly mugged, wanders aimlessly for a while, then eventually befriends a local Polish lad Marek. The film touchingly deals with their friendship and a shared obsession with a beautiful French waitress. Okay, it's not really a plot as such. The film is more like a series of incidents, many of which are "choke-on-your-tea" hilarious and many of which are genuinely moving. I won't give too much away, but keep an eye out for a supremely dodgy Arsenal shirt, a ten pound note in a pair of underpants and a painfully humorous masturbation sequence!

So where does this film stand in Meadows' cannon? Well, I would say it's almost up there with his best work. Certainly, it is his sweetest and most endearingly whimsical movie to date. With the focus on childhood friendship, the story reminds me slightly of Meadows' earlier masterpiece "A Room For Romeo Brass". Visually, it recalls "Twenty Four Seven", his confident debut. It is also refreshingly free of the foul language that runs through his other features...so, finally...a Meadows movie you can watch with your kids!

In conclusion, I would say that "Somers Town" is not the best movie Meadows has ever produced, but it is undoubtedly the warmest. In fact, it is as warm and welcoming as a buttered crumpet served with a steaming mug of tea.

8/10. A quality production. Roll on Meadows' next movie!