...Meadows' method of working with improvised scenes shot in long takes gives it a sense of emotional truth which is lacking in many more ambitious films.
Comment
10/09/09
Somers Town (2009)
96
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:46
Fresh:44
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Shane Meadows hits the spot with this short but sweet slice of good natured comedy, surprisingly, as it’s essentially an extended black & white advert for a train station.
Theatrical Release:Jul 15, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: Two teenagers, both newcomers to London, forge an unlikely friendship over the course of a hot summer. Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is a runaway from Nottingham; Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a Polish... [More]
Starring: Thomas Turgoose, Piotr Jagiello, Ireneusz Czop, Perry Benson
Director: Shane Meadows
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Reviews for Somers Town
Nothing much happens, but its workaday plot lines are universally relatable -- the key to keeping this slight film engaging.
09/25/09
Turgoose continues to convince as a kid whose personality wavers daily if not hourly, while Jagiello playfully suggests that Marek is becoming the perfect straight man.
09/17/09
Somers Town is gentle, funny, blue-collar humanism, much like the early films of Ken Loach.
09/03/09
Meadows gives his film so much forward thrust it feels like a road movie as it follows the ramblings of his two young leads.
08/30/09
Somers Town is a small-scale jewel that will surprise you with its buoyant look at blighted lives.
08/28/09
Top CriticShot in the same beautifully desolate black-and-white as Meadows' boxing film TwentyFourSeven, Somers Town takes on the feel of dreamlike instant nostalgia.
08/14/09
As in all of Meadows's films, Somers Town emphasizes the importance of character and particularly of camaraderie amongst male characters--here, teenagers who nick clothes from the local laundry, get drunk in the park, and furtively investigate masculinity
08/08/09
Somers Town is a funny and endearing character comedy whose extra-brief, 70-minute running time proves perfectly adequate for its slender, episodic story.
08/07/09
Top CriticSweet...at times reminiscent of "Y Tu Mama Tambien."
08/06/09
However thin, the story of these rootless youths, estranged from mothers and native cities, has a certain universality and appeal.
07/30/09
Top CriticWhat Somers Town lacks in story arc, it makes up for in charm, as Meadows and company create an endearing and thoroughly enjoyable portrait of a young British bromance.
07/21/09
A small but important film about small but important lives, the latest drama from Shane Meadows further confirms that more people should know about this gifted director.
07/17/09
Top CriticIt may seem slight but Meadows is a master of the art of revealing human foibles and weaknesses, which means the film lingers long after its extremely modest running time. A wee gem.
07/17/09
It is proof that there are all sorts of teenage lives going on in Britain, and sometimes, their most magical moments take place on dead-end streets.
07/16/09
Top CriticLike its star, the movie is too short and a little thin but just about perfect.
07/16/09
Top CriticThe quiet loveliness of the movie comes in its poise, pitched exactly at the moment when self-protective toughness yields to a tentative camaraderie. Rarely do directors understand their preoccupations so completely.
07/15/09
Somers Town is not Shane Meadows’ best film, but it has his finest qualities: an appreciation of British working-class life as detailed as Ken Loach’s, characterizations as realistic as Mike Leigh’s and an interest in adolescent male impudence and longing
07/15/09
Meadows has made a lovely film about the ability of the imagination to offset the harshness of reality.
07/15/09
Top CriticThis modest but amicable tale has more depth and more spirit than many films twice its length.
07/14/09
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