This Is England

It’s been a decade since Shane Meadows made the leap from directing short films such as Where’s The Money, Ronnie? and Small Time (which he’d financed with his dole money) to his highly lauded debut feature Twenty Four Seven. Along the way, the 35-year-old filmmaker has taken the brand of grass roots, naturalistic filmmaking pioneered by the likes of Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and the late, great Alan Clarke (Made In Britain, Scum) and explored modern England through tales of the working class. Meadows’ highly organic improvisational style lends itself to a certain kind of fluidity in the development of his projects. His last film Dead Man’s Shoes began life as a comedy, and mutated – through Meadows’ signature workshop style – into a revenge thriller that oozed all the brutal grit of Death Wish and Straw Dogs.

Meadows’ latest effort is his most audacious to date. A semi-autobiographical story, This Is England draws heavily upon Meadows’ memories of his youth and his flirtation with gang culture. His affectionate and honest look at the time he spent as a skinhead is not just a coming-of-age story. It’s also about the England of the ‘80s versus the England of 2007, and the director’s connection to the trials and tribulations of the working class. The film takes place in 1983 within Meadows’ familiar mise en scene of the rural north, and follows the story of Shaun (Thomas Turgoose), a shy 12-year-old who’s recently lost his father in the Falklands conflict. An outsider at school, Shaun is often bullied and teased, and spends most of his free time keeping to himself and avoiding confrontation. After a chance meeting on his way home from school, Shaun is taken under the wing of local skinhead Woody (Joseph Gilgun) and his motley group of friends who haunt the housing estate where Shaun lives. They soon introduce the youngster to the skinhead lifestyle: buzz cuts, Ben Sherman shirts, Doc Martin boots, reggae, weed, booze and, most importantly, girls.

By far his most confident work, This Is England sees Meadows achieving an impressive level of elegance within the effortless execution of this tale. It’s a heartfelt depiction of a slice of recent history, and a clutch of brilliant central performances (most notably from newcomer Turgoose) serve to cement Meadows as a supremely gifted storyteller with uncommon compassion. He is a filmmaker whose work is always evolving and never less than compelling.

Filmink 4/5