Somers Town

Shane Meadows' beautiful snapshot of life for two teenagers in North London, "Somers Town", is a million miles away from "This is England" in tone, but has no less class or brilliance about it. Filmed in wonderful black and white, this is a delightful, entertaining and involving piece about youth, culture and friendship.

The power of Meadows's film-making is in his characters. Something rings fundamentally true about the people that he brings to the screen, and the writing of Paul Fraser (a long time Meadows-collaborator) is a great help to this film. The dialogue is humorous, moving and insightful, which gets the audience utterly involved in this film. Added to this, the acting is wonderful. Thomas Turgoose, who was spectacular in "This is England", continues to be an impressive and interesting screen presence. He is ably supported, not just by Piotr Jagiello, who plays the Polish teenager Marek, but by the rest of the small, but perfectly formed, ensemble.

This film is not just an entertaining and moving piece, but is also a beautiful film with a dash of severity. There is a particularly emotive and thought-provoking scene where the immigrant father and son talk to each other. Britain's debates on immigration often ignore the individuals involved in the issues, and that scene cuts right to an unexplored area of the matter.

The beauty of the film is not just in its emotions and characters, but also in its photography. Monochrome is a form of cinematography which lends itself to beauty, but Meadows exploits this magnificently. There is a change to colour during the film which could have been crass but is in fact wonderful. The images are also accompanied by a beautiful series of songs which give the film real character. All of these elements come to fore in a number of dialogue-less sequences.

Meadows has created a lovely piece of cinema. Short though it is, that is part of its charm. It is not extraneous or self-indulgent. It is what it is: a simple joy to be delighted in by many.

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.

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.

Shane Meadows' new release, Somers Town, has received mixed reviews in the British press. The film has received criticism for its source of funding, having been developed with the funding of Eurostar from a promotional short to a fully-fledged feature. But beyond this, Somers Town has been criticised for being short, inconclusive and too whimsical in handling its grim subject matter. I would contend that although the style of Meadows sits rather awkwardly with the involvement of Eurostar, the film itself is a triumph: funny, intelligent and poignant.

Set in an area of inner city London near the construction site of the new Eurostar train terminal, the film follows the fortunes of two young boys from troubled backgrounds. Tomo, played by Thomas Thurgoose, arrives in London on a train from Nottingham, having run away from home. He never lets on about where he came from, and when asked he says that there is 'nothing' there. When Tomo reaches London he is soon set upon by a gang of youths. The camera moves uncomfortably close to Tomo and the bullying youths and the subsequent chase and beating set a dark undertone for the rest of the film. Thurgoose is superb in this lead role, cheeky, rude even, but charming and disarming – a far cry from the youths who attack him in the film's opening.

Tomo crosses paths with Marek (played by Piotr Jagiello), a young Polish immigrant living with his father, Marius. Marius is working long hours on the building site of the future Eurostar terminal and Marek is listless in his absence, roving the streets of London with his camera until he bumps into the disruptive Tomo. The two boys, though from very different backgrounds, are essentially rootless, and soon become friends. Together they vie for the attention of Maria, the beautiful waitress working in a local café, leading to some of the happiest scenes in the film. They also help out budding salesman Graham, a slightly absurd and very amusing Del Boy character.

The dialogue amongst the characters in Somers Town is excellent, often hilarious but at times sad and moving. Thurgoose delivers his lines with a sharp wit and the film is at its funniest when the two boys compete for the affection of Maria. The darker scenes in the film, including the attack on Tomo and the falling-out between Marek and Marius, are believably portrayed and equally engaging. Where the dialogue flags is where the new Eurostar terminal – and the accompanying ideas of travel and escape – work their way into the story. It is difficult to disregard the source of funding for the film and it is at these points in the film that there is a vague whiff of product placement.

Nevertheless, it seems that Shane Meadows has used the creative licence afforded to him to re-work the original short film idea into a distinctive work. Although his film runs to only 75 minutes it does not feel insubstantial or inconclusive – quite the contrary. The wistful, poignant ending throws light on the preceding film and affirms the themes of rootlessness, despair and dreams of escape.

With the wealth of Hollywood blockbusters and fine foreign-language films being produced this year it has been easy to overlook the films emerging closer to home, but this superb film has made me sit up and look for more British cinema.

The English press have perhaps been a bit too kind to this film because I came to it with lots of glowing and very positive reviews in my ears. This is understandable given the way it was made and, more importantly, that it was made by British director Shane Meadows, in yet another different entry in his resume. Following the success of This is England, Meadows has come south for a small story about a minor friendship between two young men who finds themselves in need of one another to some extent. Tomo has left Nottingham and found himself with nowhere to go in London and is robbed his first night in town. Marek is an immigrant who lives in a basic flat with his father but spends the majority of his time alone. The two meet in a café where Marek is fixated on the pretty French waitress and, after initial conflict, a uneasy friendship develops.

The film is comparatively quite short but accordingly it is also a very slight affair, with a very basic plot in place that is secondary to the general air of the film and the exploration of the world they find themselves in. I can understand why this would put many off because for the majority of the film (if not all the film) it can feel like "nothing" is happening – mainly because it isn't. The film relies a lot on the feel of it and our interest in the two boys and I think it almost relies on this too much without giving us a lot of reason to care narrative-wise. That said though, the easy chemistry that develops between the two boys is quite affecting and their relative naivety and desire for a woman out of their reach does ring true as part of a growing up process. The fact that the bigger picture of these two lives is largely left in the background is a bit of a problem but then it is hard to see how all that could have been brought in with the budget and time constraints.

Meadows directs the film well though and should be commended for staying in smaller British films that he wants to make. The hand-held style here takes a minute to get used to but with his camera and his script he is kind to the characters – not blind to who they are but not judgemental visually or thematically. He gets very good performances as well. Turgoose doesn't quite impress as he did when he had stronger material but his is still an affecting turn. Better though is Jagiello, who is wonderfully shy and interesting as a delivered character. Lasowski may have a tiny part but her light, Gaelic sexiness is perfect for the type of character she has to play within the film. Czop is convincing and I also enjoyed Benson's small-time wheeler/dealer.

Overall Somers Town is not that great a film and it will not show up amongst the best works from Meadows but it is not without its appeal. The plot is simple and doesn't go anywhere or real import but the film works in the realism and warmth of the two main characters and their small interactions. Not as brilliant as some would have you believe but a perfectly fine little film with a simple agenda.