Eager to escape the Midlands and seek out a better life in London, Tomo at 16 years old, leaves his his home behind going out into the unknown. Wandering the streets of Somers Town, Tomo meets Marek, a polish immigrant, who is both sensitive and quiet. Neither boy has anyone they can really confide in, leading to an unlikely bond forming between the two boys. Shane Meadows'' Somers Town is a small-scale intimate story completely told from the perspective of these two boys. Nothing about this film feels manufactured for dramatic purposes, rather giving a completely honest portrait of two boys who don't want to end up aimless like their fathers. Early on, we see the differences between these two, both culturally and socially, in the end making their growing friendship feel even more organic. How the film dealt with the relationship between Marek and his father was masterful. It is clearly secondary to the story of the two boys friendship yet it's subtle and humanistic. It's clear that Marek's father loves his son yet we see how his alcoholism and past relationship failures with Marek's mother have shaped Marek into a boy who feels he has no one he can truly talk too or confide in. Meadows proves that no genre is out of reach for him, and the transitional moment towards the end of the film - from black and white to color photography, provides a perfect bookend to the story, showing how these two boys finally feel truly alive. 8/10
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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