Demob Happy

“Christmas time … mistletoe and [lots and lots of] wine” 7/10 I’m not going to try and summarize the tangled human relationships that characterise Arnaud Desplechin’s striking ‘Un Conte de Noel’ (A Christmas Tale), so fiddly and time-consuming that it would be. The premise is an extended and admirably dysfunctional family gathering for Christmas in [...]

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Protoype Meadows 4/10 Shane Meadows’s first movie set the template for his more accomplished later work. Bob Hoskins excepting, Twenty Four Seven features a cast of largely non-professional actors, a liberal use of improvisation and a typically tragic-comic approach to realist drama. Set mostly in and around the working class midlands, Meadows’ films draws comparisons [...]

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Brassed off 6/10 Like Shane Meadows’ later ‘This is England‘, ‘A Room For Romeo Brass‘ is a coming of age drama revolving around friends growing up in the working class Midlands. Both films feature friendships tested by the divisive arrival of an influencial older figure. The protagonists in both films seek friendship to escape disappointment [...]

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The way we were 8/10 Dubbed the `Scorcese of the Midlands’, Shane Meadows is one of the UK’s brightest modern filmmaking talents. ‘This is England‘ continues a series of excellent films by the director set around working class Nottingham that often feature non-professional actors and a liberal use of improvisation. While belonging to a British [...]

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