this is england Tagged Articles at Cinematical

By next year, it'll be four years since Shane Meadows' This is England came out and stood out as a well-observed portrait of growing up of '80s-era England, so it seems fitting that any follow-up would also take place four years after the fact. According to Screen Daily, that's just the idea, as Meadows prepares to do a four-part series called "We Were Faces" for the UK's Channel Four which will chronicle the characters as their lives have progressed by 1986.

I haven't had the chance yet to see this summer's Somers Town, the latest from Meadows and young star Thomas Turgoose, but the latter has certainly made an impression for himself between England and Eden Lake. Between that one and Somers Town, he took home the London Film Critics' Young British Performer of the Year award, so he must be doing something right, and there's a unique pleasure in seeing a young talent grow up and grow out in their work.

No offense, Freddie Highmore, but it's just not the same. Maybe you should ring up Mr. Meadows for a part...

(Thanks to IFC's Alison Willmore for the heads-up.)

Unlike the film critics in American cities, who this week have been naming their year-end award winners, the folks across the pond are waiting until February 8 to reveal their favorites. But they have at least announced the nominees for their awards, many of which distinguish the importance of British filmmaking. See, the London Film Critics' Circle gives two separate awards each for the categories of best film, best director, actor and actress, so that one award is given to the best British film, director, actor and actress. Sometimes this leads to an overlap, as in the case of last year, when both Helen Mirren and Judi Dench were nominated for best actress and best British actress and The Queen was nominated for best film and best British film.

This year's nominees don't appear to have that overlap problem (see the full list here), which could very well mean the Circle has changed its rules since last year. Either that or there really is no clear enough front-runner this year in any of those categories. Or maybe the Circle just felt there were too many non-British films, directors and performers worthy of notice and didn't need to exclude any of them just to spotlight their own movies more than necessary. The one interesting thing is that while Daniel Day Lewis could be considered a British actor, he is only nominated in the more general Best Actor category. Also, it is interesting that Paul Greengrass is nominated as best British director for The Bourne Ultimatum, a movie nominated only in the more general Best Film category.

The best thing about having the British-only categories is the recognition the LFCC gives to terrific films like Control and This is England, which aren't on the radar enough in America to be given notice here. Also, the British-only directing category allows for the general best director nominees to include other foreign (non-American) directors like Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 weeks, 2 days) and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others).

My pick of the week is the emotionally charged yet evenhanded documentary Your Mommy Kills Animals -- look for a separate review later today -- but it's a wonderfully packed week for indie releases. Arthouse fans of all stripes should have a field day with Criterion's edition of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's magnificent Berlin Alexanderplatz, originally aired on German television and now restored and available on DVD for the first time.

If you missed La Vie en Rose in theaters, now's the time to catch up with the "superb performance given by Marion Cotillard," in the words of our own Erik Davis. Erik had some reservations about the film as a whole, as did Jeffrey M. Anderson, who called it "a spectacular one-woman show, but not really a movie." The DVD includes a "making of" feature. The anthology Paris, Je T'aime should be ideal for consumption on DVD: 18 short films in 120 minutes. Cinematical's Ryan Stewart felt that only "about 40 of its 120 minutes is worth saving," but his was a minority opinion. The DVD includes a "making of" documentary.

Speaking of minority opinions, I found Argentine youth drama Glue to be acutely irritating, but most reviewers recommended it. The DVD includes deleted scenes for those who can't get enough. On the other hand, I thought French girls' school fable Innocence was visually beautiful yet devoid of any substance. Again, others were better attuned to its wavelength. The DVD includes interviews with the director and an 'explanation' by one of the actresses.

Ensemble drama Resilience (pictured) drew mixed critical response but may be just right if you're looking for more "challenging material," in the words of Variety. Shane Meadows' This is England "derives its power from a pair of extraordinary performances," according to Martha Fischer. And Amazing Grace features a strong cast in the true story of British antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce.

Set against the backdrop of the Falklands war, This is England gives us the story of a young boy whose seemingly normal coming-of-age is warped by two events: the death of his father in Thatcher's arguably meaningless Argentinian conflict, and the boy's unexpected embrace by a gaggle of youngish right-wingers who are alarmed by the presence of Pakistanis in their traditionally white neighborhoods. 11-year old Shaun (played by an exceptionally good young actor named Thomas Turgoose) is a boy who seemingly, even at his young, understands the value of finding normalcy and happiness and everyday life, and the process by which he's seduced into the skinhead circle is as layered and complex as it would be for a 20-year old character, let alone one who is young enough to be barely aware of sex. Shaun is hard to impress, in other words, and is not above telling anyone who treats him like a little boy to 'piss off' or worse. One of the funny things about this intimate little drama is that its cursing would make Scorsese blush.

The leader of the skinheads is Combo (Stephen Graham), a mercurial chap who alternates between speechifying about British pride like Ed Norton in American History X and trying to make honest efforts at connecting with his co-malcontents. He's far from the most pitiless brownshirt ever portrayed in the movies, but he does possesses mean reservoirs that the movie holds back from showing us for as long as it can. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess how he feels about the group's one Afro-Caribbean member, called Milky. His presence in the group isn't explained very well, but I suspect the idea is that director Shane Meadows is trying to make some kind of comment on the cross-pollination of skinhead culture and punk culture that existed in lower-middle class Britain at the time. One was perhaps marginally more accepting of a Milky, while the other was decidedly not, but an outsider might be hard-pressed to sort that difference immediately. Andrew Shim plays Milky as a guy who isn't surprised to face occasional racism, but plays past it.

The ninth annual British Independent Film Awards have been announced, and I can't say there are any huge surprises, although Jeff Wells thinks its significant that The History Boys only scored four noms, compared to The Queen (leading the pack with seven noms), The Last King of Scotland and This is England (six apiece) and Red Road and Venus with a respectable five each. Some of the not-so-shocking noms include nods for Best British Independent Film to The Last King of Scotland, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, The Queen, Red Road, and This is England, Best Actress nominations include Helen Mirren for The Queen. Mirren will likely dominate the rest of a pack that includes Juliette Binoche and Robin Wright Penn, both for Breaking and Entering, Kate Dickie for Red Road, and Frances de la Tour for The History Boys.

Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy, both of The Last King of Scotland, will duke it out for Best Actor, but may be overshadowed by Peter O'Toole's extraordinary performance in Venus. Also from Venus, newcomer Jodie Whitaker, who was quite good in her role (she rather reminded me of a British Evan Rachel Wood), scored a nom for Best Newcomer, and screenwriter Hanif Kureishi has been nominated for the script (no nod for director Roger Michell, interestingly), though I'd look for Peter Morgan to take the screenplay prize for The Queen (Morgan is also nominated for co-writing The Last King of Scotland). Also of note (to me at least) are a couple of the nominees for Best Foreign Indie: Brick and Hard Candy, two films that may very well end up on my personal top ten list by the end of the year.

The awards take place November 29, 2006. Full list of nominees after the jump.

So I'm standing on the subway platform the other day, minding my own, when I just happen to make eye contact with a fellow male human being standing nearby. Suddenly (and for no apparent reason), the dude moves in a bit closer and says, "Yeah, and what's your problem?"

At first, being the sarcastic pain in the ass that I am, I wanted to reply with something along the lines of, "Well, to be honest with you I'm moving in a week, work is pretty hectic, I need to decide which films I'll be seeing at the New York Film Festival and, oh -- for some reason my groin hurts. Perhaps I have a groin pull, then again I thought stuff like that only happened to professional athletes." However, since I wasn't in the mood to rumble, I simply ignored the man, turned around and walked away. Funny, I think he had more problems than me.

As you can imagine, all of the following films feature characters who either have or are about to have some serious problems. Yeah, so what's your problem? Welcome to another edition of Trailer Park:

During the final scene of Shane Meadows' This Is England, I heard someone in the audience let out a violent, wrenching sob. The scene itself is actually quite lovely -- a young boy is standing in a field of green sea grass next to a rowboat, long-ago stranded by the tide; he's holding the St. George's Cross, the flag of England -- but it's infused with an almost inconceivable suffering and pain. Like most of Meadows' impressively accomplished film, the closing combines lush beauty -- the colors and compositions are often breathtaking -- with an incredible emotional punch, breaking our hearts with the inevitable tragedy of what we're seeing on screen.

Originally based on his own childhood, Meadows' screenplay underwent a metamorphosis after he met Thomas Turgoose, his young star. Combining his own childhood experiences with what Turgoose was going through nearly a quarter-century later, he revised his script and ended up with a heartfelt, tragic story of a boy desperate to belong. Set in the England of 1983, the movie is centered on Shaun, a 12-year-old boy whose father was recently killed in the Falkland Islands War. His pain over the loss of his dad is distancing him from his well-intentioned mother, and he doesn't fit in with the kids at school, all of whom are divided into distinct camps of fashion and ideology. Clad in bell-bottomed corduroys and a knitted sweater decorated with what look like squirrels, Shaun sticks out like a sore thumb. His inner agony gives him a hair trigger, and his explosive reactions immediately make him a target for the bullies at school -- they know they'll get a response, so they can hardly wait to wind him up.