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Rating of
3/4
This is England review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 08/30/2012
A heavy drama that starts out light then gets darker towards its conclusion. Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) was humiliated three times during July of 1983. He encounters Richard "Woody" Woodford (Joe Gilgun) and invites him to join the group of shaven stylish boys and girls. Combo (Stephen Graham) arrives and asks the group who wants to join him after expresses English nationalism and racist views. A powerful film about England during the 80's with applicable and enjoyable music and style. Direction and performances were good. Thomas Turgoose can carry his own while Stephen Graham impressive. Only knack would be a definite plot, which focuses on characters than the story. One of the rare occasions wherein realism from the artists and story were presented. This is England touches on the …
Rating of
3/4
"This Is England" by Yojimbo
Yojimbo - wrote on 01/19/2012
This IS England. I've never seen a film that so completely sums up a place and time as this one; an England in a time before the internet, DVDs and Playstation, where the only outlet for bored teens was music and the tribal camaraderie that accompanies it. The plot is not the best you will ever see, but this is one of those films where the plot is not the point; it skillfully side steps cliches and stereotypes and constantly defies jaded expectation. It has an understanding of humanity and what drives it that very few do, and presents it perfectly. Every single character is completely believable and it attempts to understand the motivations behind even the most despicable character. Even the hardcore nationalists are not demonised, but shown exactly as they are; a bunch of ignorant, …
Rating of
3.5/4
This is Brilliant
gideon43 - wrote on 05/27/2010
Shane Meadows continues to justify his tag as the British Martin Scorsese with this riveting portrayal of life in Thatchers Britain circa 1983.
Thomas Turgoose plays Shaun, a 12 year old boy a troubled and alienated boy who is bullied at school. Shaun's father has recently been killed fighting in the Falklands War.
Finding friendship with a gang of jovial and older skinheads, Shaun gradually becomes accepted and discovers a world of Ben Sherman shirts, Doc Martins, Parties and girls.
The return of Combo (Stephen Graham), an older more extreme skinhead threatens to tear the group apart and Shaun believing he has found a suitable role model begins to drift into a more dangerous and radical lifestyle.
Dead Mans Shoes is one of my personal favourite movies of the 21st century, it is a …
Rating of
3/4
Bold & Powerful Snapshot That Avoids Easy Answers
jkownacki - wrote on 05/24/2008
A grim, well-acted and illuminating look at the psyche of working-class England during the 1980s, when a national identity crisis opened the door to a rise of violence from the Neo-Nazi skinhead movement. Writer-director Shane Meadows, allegedly drawing on his own experiences with the skinhead lifestyle, portrays the individuals who live both at its fringes and in its depths as multi-dimensional individuals filled with frustration, hate and -- disarmingly, to an audience expecting to hate them -- hope. Although the audience logically questions the fascist vision of England that these people may hope to create, Meadows (and the uniformly talented cast) creates a nuanced group of characters who engender both our sympathies and our own worst expectations, making them impossible to write …
Rating of
2.5/4
This is England?
yogadad - wrote on 12/30/2007
Shawn's father is killed in battle in the Falklands War in 1983. Devastated, the boy finds solace with a gang of skinheads. At first, it's just partying and hanging out. The film takes an abrupt dark turn when Combo shows up. Just released from prison, Combo starts preaching a virulent racist ideology and splits the gang. Shawn stays with Combo and participates in the escalating violence that culminates in a bloody denouement.
Turgoose, as Shawn, gives an awesome performance. He's completely believable as a confused, troubled adolescent. Graham as Combo exudes power and barely contained violence. The other actors were all uniformly good.
Writer/director Meadows adopted a documentary style to tell his story and it works well. The film has a fly-on-the-wall feel that draws you into …
Rating of
3/4
This is England
Franz Patrick - wrote on 12/26/2007
I thought it was going to be more about hatred more than anything else. Instead, I got to see an evolution of a lonely kid who desperately wants to belong. I'm still at an awe because the kid that the film makers chose was a first time actor. I must give kudos to him because he did a really great job. Unfortunately, I felt that the story was a bit cluttered so I can't give it a four-star review. If they made the first forty five minutes or so a little bit shorter, it would have been more powerful. The second to last scene was very engaging and scary to the point where I could not look away from the screen. Finally, I also liked that the film was made in 1983 (that's the setting of the film)--the hairstyles, the clothes, the somewhat grainy look of the film--all of it is great. Although …
