England Is Mine

It is a good start i tell you that. Let's make it a trilogy: right after this its the smiths and the third is the solo. I wonder which One will be highest rating...

Manchester, 1976. Steven Patrick Morrissey is unemployed and depressed. He eventually finds work but it doesn't interest him. His only interest appears to be writing down his observations on life and people in a journal. We see his life over the next six years and how this period would have a bearing on his later life for, in 1982, he was to form The Smiths, one of the most influential bands of the 80s.

A fascinating subject. But then I am a Smiths fan and therein lies what will probably make or break the movie for most people: knowing Morrissey's subsequent history, spotting all the watershed moments, sensing how things that happen in the movie might influence his music - only Smiths fans would know it. The ending, especially, would seem rather cryptic to anyone who isn't one.

So, really only for Smiths fans, and even if you are one it takes a bit of patience. Can be slow-moving at times.

However, it is quite interesting and edifying and reasonably engaging. Performances are top-notch.

What would have made it really interesting is showing the formation of The Smiths and their initial struggles. But that would be a whole new movie in itself, I suppose. I'll wait for the sequel...

to start off with, if you're going into this film hoping to see plenty of smiths songs and smiths related stuff, you're going to be disappointed. however this film is a realistic, enlightening and well made insight into a young, socially awkward yet likable Stephen Patrick Morrissey, trying to get his voice heard in the cramped music scene of the 1970/80s. Jack Lowden (Morrissey) who may not really look a lot like Morrissey, does a excellent job of portraying all of his unique characteristics and making him likable in the processes.

as a massive smiths fan I was of course disappointed at the absence of any smiths songs, however the music was still very good, using a lot of mid 70s tracks, which is sure to give a lot of older fans nostalgia. the only problem I found was that I originally knew this would obviously be a dramatization like most film biographies, but I then found out later that this is an unauthorized film, meaning that all of this could of possibly been false information, which is a bit of a waste of an hour and a half if it is.

altogether though it was a very well made film with lots of style and memorable performances. hopefully a follow-up will be made in the future which focuses more on the smiths and their road to becoming one of the most recognizable bands ever made.

"England Is Mine" isn't a movie about Morrissey (the actor doesn't even look like him) or The Smiths. If you're looking for a film about them, you won't find it here (besides, like many other movies about real musicians, this one wasn't allowed to use real music either).

Who has not looked for a job and, at the same time, was afraid to find it? Who has not preferred to do anything instead of risking doing something for fear of succeeding? These, among a few others, seem to be the main questions of this film. It doesn't offer any answer, however.

If you want to see a guy rejecting all the women that are given to him, this is a movie for you.

The film could've been better.

A film/docudrama about the early days of The Smiths/Morrissey. When this is set, in the late 70's, if you took a photograph and had it developed you would have got a photo and a negative copy. This film is like the negative of the events. It's like the uninteresting part of something special...... and don't get me wrong . The Smiths were special, in every sense of the word. Shame, what could have been..........