After being a fan of This Is England for many years, I decided to go back and watch Meadows' other films. First up was this, and I would argue that it is almost on par with This Is England. A great, believable story with great actors. I find it more close to heart as it is filmed in suburban England, which is where I grew up which is a theme I experience with his other films too, it is refreshing to have a normal story instead of Hollywood films.
The characters, setting and story are all realistic and believable, it is something that any two friends in your street could experience. The only reason why This Is England is slightly better, is because there is a more hard-hitting ending and more interesting characters in that film.
But that is totally fine as this is one of Meadows' earlier films with presumably a lower budget. Sure, some of the accents sound comedic but as most of the actors where new to acting in this film, it is very impressive. It feels like a home movie, in a good way and I look forward to watching more of Meadows' work, he is definitely one of the UK's best. A solid 8 out of 10 stars.
The characters, setting and story are all realistic and believable, it is something that any two friends in your street could experience. The only reason why This Is England is slightly better, is because there is a more hard-hitting ending and more interesting characters in that film.
But that is totally fine as this is one of Meadows' earlier films with presumably a lower budget. Sure, some of the accents sound comedic but as most of the actors where new to acting in this film, it is very impressive. It feels like a home movie, in a good way and I look forward to watching more of Meadows' work, he is definitely one of the UK's best. A solid 8 out of 10 stars.