Somers Town

"Somers Town" is one of the sweetest little films of any festival this year. Shane Meadows ("This Is England"), directing from a strikingly authentic Paul Fraser script, has crafted a winner with so much to like that it's hard to know where to begin.

The film takes its name from an area of inner London where the landscape is dominated by monstrous natural gas tanks and the construction of a station for a Channel Tunnel rail link. Marek (Piotr Jagiello) lives in the shadow of the humongous structure and spends his days shooting photographs of the area and trying to stay occupied as his father toils away at the construction site. Like many in the town, they are Polish immigrants who came looking for work and stayed. One day Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) appears out of nowhere, a boy Marek's age who is little more than a street urchin from the East Midlands to the locals. A fortuitous meeting between the two boys forges an unlikely friendship. Tomo is a tough punk (or thinks he is) and Marek is introspective and sensitive -- it's the basis for a character arc which is classic in the coming-of-age genre. We know where they're going -- how they get there is at the heart of "Somers Town." The outstanding supporting cast includes a sweetly understated Elisa Lasowski as Maria, the local girl who they both fall for, and the hilarious Perry Benson as Graham, who provides much of the film's comic relief (not that it needs any more than the boys already provide) as an eccentric neighbor who is literally indescribable. But it's the on screen chemistry between the boys which makes "Somers Town" the gem that it is. In a wise casting move, Turgoose and Jagiello, both 15, are the same age as their characters. In one scene where the two party a little too hearty, Meadows simply directed them to have fun and let the cameras roll. The result is one of the best scenes in any film I saw here this year.

"Somers Town" surprises at every turn. The film is shot completely in black and white save for the final sequence. It's a rarely used technique which, although unfamiliar at first, quickly falls away as the viewer focuses on the budding relationship between Tomo and Marek. After awhile we don't even notice the absence of color, for the story itself provides a rainbow of feelings. This device also makes lighting somewhat irrelevant, which allows a focus more on the characters rather than the look of the film. The soundtrack is simply a perfect match, with a playlist of tender acoustic songs that seems tailor-made for the narrative.

Everything about this film says "gentle and tender," from the friendship between the two boys -- what could almost be described as a platonic love story, to the longing the two have for Maria -- the object of affection who is always just out of reach, if only by age and maturity, and even to the father's tentative but loving relationship to his son -- in stark contrast to typical American films where the two would be constantly butting heads.

More than anything, though, there is no doubt that Turgoose and Jagiello carry this film on their young shoulders. Never have two young teens needed each other at this point in their lives as much as Tomo and Marek, and their relationship is so incredibly funny and touching that it had audiences in stitches and had me smiling from ear to ear from start to finish. It's no wonder that Turgoose and Jagiello each received the jury award for Best Actor here at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where "Somers Town" had its North American Premiere. "Somers Town" is a charming and funny gem with a heart of gold.

Short, compact, yet rich with satisfaction: this film encompassing some beautiful moments to take with you and treasure. Shot in black & white, this film scores for being simple, yet moving, deep and unique.

In a world of blockbusters and 2 hour feature films, this short, simple indie film came as a welcome relief. It was 'bite-sized' if you can attribute that phrase. In other words digestible: it had a pleasantly warming message of friendship and the beauty of human emotions. Therefore perfect to consume on a quiet sunny afternoon.

By not being too long, this film does not loose out in being concise, it feels like every short scene is of real value to the story. This creates a pleasant pace and means the audience is kept enticed and captivated. Interwoven in this storyline and despite its brief nature, Meadows is still able to weave in thought-provoking shots and sequences to really underline the nature of social study.

Overall it is indeed a little gem, not to be left to gather dust on the shelf. Its one of those movies you could watch on a typical afternoon in the house to give you a satisfying feeling of wholeness.

Very impressive: 83/100

Somers Town is a typical example of an indie film made for the sake of being indie; it's distilled, slow moving and at times poignantly moving in as much of an anti-melodramatic manner as possible, yet it's also blatantly empty, pointless and more often than not, unremarkable. Coming off of his critically acclaimed This Is England, director Shane Meadows here crafts a mostly pedestrian feature that doesn't quite understand the distinction between meditative and sleepy. Sure enough it can be an amusing seventy minutes, with some nice scenes between two very capable actors who play natural characters, but as a whole, these sets of ideas never really mesh into one coherent piece of work. Being more likely to induce drowsiness rather than enlightenment, Somers Town, much like it's closing sequence, is like watching someone's holiday photos as they prattle on about their mundane day over each slide; at times there will be something interesting to be heard, but it just never seems to justify taking the time to do so. This is a shame because deep within the movie, there is definite heart and some strong themes, yet smothered by countless scenes of uninteresting, minute details, this follow up to Meadows' previous success feels more like a forgettable intermission rather than a whole, solid production.

Set in modern day London, around the construction of the Channel train system, Somers Town tells the tale of two teenage boys as they slowly find their way into their new and unfamiliar setting. Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is from the East-Midlands of England, and having "nothing" back home (this is all that is revealed) has ventured to London to try and make something of himself; he doesn't know what he's going to do, but it seems he doesn't have much choice either way. Marek (Piotr Jagiello) is from Poland, having moved with his father to England after his parents break-up back home. Eventually both characters meet, and through their mutual alienation of being away from home and having nothing to do, they form a friendship. What follows from here is a whimsy, but deeply grounded tale that attempts to document the coming of age of two young lads as they come to terms with their new surroundings, and their new partnership. It can be sweet and fun to watch as the boys run mischief and share their conflicting ideas on topics such as food and women, yet much of this is saved for the remaining second half of the feature. The first half is notably dim, and although has its moments, feels more like an overlong introduction.

Shot in monochrome, the film takes on a style that is reminiscent of this year's In Search of a Midnight Kiss in its romanticism of an otherwise dreary, worn down city. This side of London isn't pretty, as Tomo finds out early on when he's brutally mugged, and so the photography does well to echo the film's more ambitious, arty nuances used to portray the gritty, down to earth side of the story. One thing that it complements really well however, and not to positive effect, is the film's minimalist nature; the black and white does well to bring to the life the film's greatest, most poignant sequences, yet the filling between these areas becomes a lot less interesting to watch as a result. This was a problem in the aforementioned film also, but being that Somers Town is dramatically shorter winded, the less successful moments don't hinder the film's romanticism of realism to irreversible effect. The soundtrack is just as bare, and features the rather worn-out acoustic, indie compositions that fit the tone of the film well, but never go anywhere or do anything remarkable; it's developed at a suitable pace, yet the score itself is too timid and dry to warrant much attention outside of its cliché appearance.

The primary intention that writer Paul Fraser here seems to striving for is simply to make us laugh, and such he does, but not very often. In fact he does a whole lot more than strike a chuckle or two; he crafts realistic, three-dimensional characters, he uses natural dialogue and mundane chatter to occupy his story, but such is where these small indulgences in practising the mundane becomes mundane in themselves. To be able to write everyday life, one can certainly involve realistic banter, dry themes and an almost nonexistent, nonlinear storyline, but when such is translated onto the big screen, it looses its relevancy. Somers Town certainly has integrity, and it has genuine heart, but in the end its pedestrian approach simply becomes too much of too little to achieve what it is obviously setting out to do. The actors do a strong job with the script and meadows certainly manages to get more than a few compelling scenes out of all involved, but the overwhelming feeling by the end is one of disquieted indifference; there's no denying that these seventy minutes feature some fine moments, but such indulgences could probably have been better suited to a short film format. It's a decently short affair for those who can appreciate dry-bones, hyper-realism cinema, but for anyone looking for anything profound or entertaining, you should probably stay away from Somers Town less you be mugged of your consciousness.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward. For more reviews of all the latest movies please visit: http://www.invocus.net

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.

This story has Tomo, a young teen (apparently homeless) from Nottingham coming to London. He lands in the area of London known as Somers Town and his first encounter has him being robbed and beaten by three young toughs. Tomo encounters Marek, a young Polish immigrant, in a local café. The aggressive and outgoing Tomo and the shy, lonely Marek make for an improbable match, but they gradually become fast friends.

One of the delights of the film is in its capturing the close friendship between the two boys. Both boys are taken with a somewhat older French waitress in the café where they met (Tomo remarks several times how "fit" she is). Emotions run high among these three. Older viewers will likely be reminded of how intensely life is experienced when young.

At seventy minutes this has the structure of a short story. Things progress with sweetness and gentle humor until a powerfully dramatic scene between Marek and his father is inserted toward the end.

Most of the movie is filmed in black and white. Indeed the photographic contrast is dramatic, giving the impression that there are not many shades of gray to take the edge off the black and white.

The soundtrack contains original music by Gavin Clark that adds much to the experience. The song, "When We had Faces" enhances the charming final scenes, leaving you on a high as the film closes.