What Do The Critics Say?

"With bad boy conviction and feisty demeanor, Turgoose ably shows us sharply responsive nerves bared to the erratic side of reactive behavior." Jules Brenner CINEMA SIGNALS "The breakthrough performance from Turgoose, though, is the real draw here." Jon Popick PLANET SICK-BOY "A gripping bit of British drama." Stephen Whitty NEWARK STAR-LEDGER "This is the best of British . . . unmissable." Johnny Vaughan SUN ONLINE "Apart from its sharp screenplay, "This is England" derives its power from a pair of extraordinary performances." Martha Fischer CINEMATICAL "In short, this is, mostly, bloody brilliant." Daily Mirror UK "A small film that packs a big wallop." Sid Smith CHICAGO TRIBUNE "explosive" Chris Cabin FILMCRITIC.COM "Meadows gets great, moving performances from his young cast." Ali Catterall CHANNEL 4 FILM "The movie is taut, tense, relentless." Roger Ebert CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "The best British film of the year. You'll be floored." Jonathan Dean TOTAL FILM "It's one of the simplest and best re-creations of downscale urban England during the gritty post-punk years ever put on screen, and it's both upsetting and very funny." Andrew O'Hehir SALON.COM

"Shaun's dark journey into an English heartland where ultra-right, National Front thugs successfully tap into the growing alienation of working-class youth is a frighteningly accurate depiction of the seductive power of hate." Ken Fox TVGUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE "stunning... This little British gem is such a powerful film." Lisa Hensley THE SBS MOVIE SHOW "a joy to watch no matter how you were dressing in the 80s." VOGUE AUSTRALIA "Deeply impressive..." EMPIRE MAGAZINE "doubtless... one of the films of the year." THE AGE "Director Shane Meadows finally digs the terrific film out of his provincial home that his fans (myself included) always suspected he had it in him to make." Shawn Levy OREGONIAN "The film is a knockout." SYDNEY MORNING HERALD "...heartfelt..." FILMINK "... a film... that leaves you shaken and stirred in your cinema seat." COURIER MAIL "In short, it sings; it's downright novelistic." RAVE MAGAZINE "[a] very fine, very disturbing film" David Stratton AT THE MOVIES "It's a thoroughly exhaustive, hand-wringing emotional stick of provincial dynamite that viciously grabs the audience by the collar and drags them through the gummy muck of lives gone horribly wrong." Brian Orndorf EFILMCRITIC

The Inside Story This Is England is set in early eighties England; a world of popular TV character Roland Rat, aerobics, the TV show "Blockbusters", Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands crisis, racial unease, and skinheads. Drawing heavily from his own experiences growing up, Shane Meadows has created a portrait of an often-overlooked moment in cultural history. Against the backdrop of the skinhead scene in a deadbeat coastal town, we witness this traumatic rite of passage, both on a cultural and personal level, through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. Specifically there was an incident from Shane's own life, when he was about twelve years old and had become a skinhead. "I thought the be all and end all in life was that kind of hard masculinity in men. I craved to be like a Jimmy Boyle, or a John McVicar, or a Kray. It’s like kids who are into Beckham, I was into Jimmy Boyle in the same way. I wanted to see men fight, and there was an act of violence that I almost prompted, and that was something that became very difficult to live with," he explained. Of his childhood in Uttoxeter in the eighties, then a small Midlands town with a population of around 10,000, high unemployment, and the epitome of Thatcher’s rural dispossessed, the now thrity four year old, 1997 FIPRESCI Prize winning director reflects: "Coming from a town like Uttoxeter, nobody expects you to leave and become a filmmaker. In a way my reaction to that act of violence was the first stepping stone to getting out of that way of life." It should be noted that all his films deal with issues of masculinity. From the boys boxing club of "TwentyFourSeven" (which picked up nine international awards) to the compromised boyhood friendship in "A Room For Romeo Brass", the question of male power structures and revenge in "Dead Man’s Shoes", through to the teen tribes and father figures of "This Is England". Jokingly he says, "In film terms it’s almost like the Star Wars seriess. Now I’m into my prequel series. "This Is England" is made before all of my other films. The others are based on a certain period of time, from fifteen years old onwards when, though I abhorred violence, I was a bit of a small time crook. I think "This Is England" has gone as far back as I could probably go and found the root of what got me making films to begin with." Casting is an essential part of every Shane Meadows film. Working chiefly with nonprofessionals, the intuitive Meadows allows story to take shape through workshops. For "This Is England", he had a jumping off point: skinhead culture, growing up in the eighties, and childhood interrupted by violence. The substance of the movie depended on finding the perfect lead, a task that would not only involve hard work, it hinged on luck and something close to magic. His long-term collaborator and partner Louise Meadows (who had found the rest of the cast single-handedly), held many auditions with children in inner city workshops all over the country. As Louise (who produced "Dead Man's Shoes" and "Northern Soul") put it, what they needed was "a real kid of the street." Shane and Louise decided to enlist the help of casting genius Des Hamilton ("Young Adam", "Dear Frankie" and "Hallam Foe"), a renowned expert in street casting. Invites to casting sessions were given out at holiday camps around the east coast. Hamilton particularly focused on the town of Grimsby. It was at 'The Space Project', an organization run for disadvantaged kids, many of whom have been excluded from school, that Des found the quality they had been searching for: a canny combination of innocence and hardness that set these children apart. That quality was evident in Thomas 'Tommo' Turgoose, a thirteen year old boy who had grown up with the odds stacked heavily against him. 'Tommo' was different. He actually charged for every audition he went to, at once wheeling-dealing and street savvy, and at the same time sadly unable to grasp any other kind of exchange. Producer Mark Herbert recalls the startling impression he made at his first audition. "He was, you know, 'one of them', he had such cheekiness and spirit! Yet he threw things in that were so unobvious; he was much more subtle." "I just got that feeling that directors probably get when they see something that has this magic, Simon Cowell's X Factor," says Shane. "I could see myself in him. I remember there were teachers at school who’d said I was going to end up in prison, there were only bad things out there for me, yet somehow some people believed in me and I actually made something of myself." Shane also revealed that 'Tommo' had little structure in his life, had been diagnosed with an Attention Deficit Disorder, was in school for one hour only a week and had recently been rejected from playing an extra in the school play. With two other boys were on the shortlist (actors from the Carlton Workshop in Nottingham), what was it that made Shane choose 'Tommo' over them? "I thought I’d much rather take a chance on a kid like 'Tommo' and risk failure. If you turn your back on the person that’s meant to play the part you shouldn’t make the film anyway. It had become this beautiful full circle thing: that you go out there to make a film about yourself, and you end up finding yourself. It’s kind of crazy!" After a week Shane struck a problem. 'Tommo' he said he didn’t think he could do it. Shane remembers explaining to the boy, "if you turn your back on this now I honestly believe you’ll regret it for the rest of your life, because if you don’t work your way through this, you’ll never work your way through anything. I got my chance a bit later than you, and to be honest Tommo, I couldn’t have done it if I was your age." It worked. 'Tommo' develpoed an appetite for filmmaking that became insatiable. From the camera work through to the editing, he wanted to learn about it all. "We even changed his diet," Shane recalls. "The chips and Coca-Cola went, and by the end me and him were drinking Purdeys (a drink made of mineral water and fruit extracts), all we needed was a fitness instructor on set!" Tommo not only bonded with Shane, but also with his co-stars Andrew Shim (who plays Milky) and Stephen Graham (who stars as Combo). "He reminded me of myself," Graham says. "I’d never prepare for a scene. I’d be the one laughing and talking right up until they shout 'action!' Just like he was! Every time he has Coca-Cola he goes really hyper and could drive everyone insane and as soon as they said 'action' his face dropped and he was straight into it." Stephen the hard-man character actor from such films as "Gangs Of New York" and "Snatch", was someone 'Tommo' would look up to. On working with 'Tommo' Stephen notes, "he’s completely in the moment." Joe Gilgun was cast as Woody, the unofficial boss-man of the skinheads. "Joe is the funniest person. In the auditions he had us all in hysterics. We cast a lot of the gang then, you could see they responded to him not because he was this big, butch, macho type," says producer Mark Herbert, "it’s because they laughed at him." Rosamund Hanson was cast for the character of Smell, an outlandish looking punk who becomes Shaun’s first girlfriend. "She’s hilarious," Herbert said. "Her comic timing is impeccable. She’s just got something about her that is very offbeat and leftfield. I think 'Tommo' really fancied her as well which helped." For the key roles of Milky and Lol, Shane cast his old friends Andrew Shim and Vicky McClure who he worked with on "A Room For Romeo Brass". "Thanks to Shane I’ve been able to get myself into a part where I couldn’t have asked for a better character to play," Vicky notes. "I’ve learned a hell of a lot from him." As Lol, Vicky brings a strength and believability to her character. "The skinhead girls weren’t shy! They were aggressive and up for fighting," says the director. "My sister was a skinhead and she was fighting all the time! There was never a choice, it had to be Vicky." Stephen Graham who plays Combo, the catalyst for Shaun’s passage into adulthood was someone Shane had wanted to meet ever since he had seen him as Tommy in Guy Ritchie's "Snatch". He recalls, "I couldn’t believe he was a scouser (An English person from Liverpool) and he only lived about fifteen miles away from me! I was convinced he was a cockney (A working-class inhabitant of East London)." On his experience of working with Meadows on "This Is England", Stephen says "Everyone, the whole crew from the gaffer to the lighting person, has been blown away by the experience. It went right through the whole set. Everyone felt it." With casting behind them the next step was to recreate the eighties. This would present a new set of challenges for the director who has never made a period piece before. While it seems a recent memory, convincingly portraying the eighties can be as involved as creating a Victorian period piece. After an exhaustive search locations manager Richard Knight discovered the St Annes estate in Nottingham, where much of the action is filmed. This was one of these places that by a fluke hadn’t been touched. The area was virtually all pedestrianized as it had originally been built in the seventies as a place that could exist without cars, and had never been modernised. Working on a tiny budget, production designer Mark Leese was given a brief to create a world that was simple, authentic, and that, unlike many period pieces, looked like people actually lived there. Cinematographer Danny Cohen shot "This Is England" on 16mm film "to give a slightly more raw feeling." As for 'Tommo', Andrew, Shane and Stephen, made a gentlemen’s agreement that they would be there for Tommo. Tommo regularly goes to stay with the director and Stephen’s families. And his acting career? 'Tommo' is currently filming a BBC drama with Stephen and the older actor is putting him forward for other roles. Synopsis

Twelve year old Shaun is a tough little kid who is street-smart beyond his years despite being short for his age. He falls in with a group of older boys, led by Woody, who hang out at a local coffee shop, like to commit minor acts of anarchy, and adopt Shaun as one of their own; especially Smell, an overly made-up teenager who dresses like Boy George and develops a cute romantic interest in the complicated boy. But when skinhead Combo gets out of jail, he returns to the gang, eager to take over the reins and lead them on a nationalistic battle to get rid of the immigrants who are stealing their jobs and to defend England to the death. Shaun, whose father died in the Falklands, must choose between staying with Woody and his friends or joining Combo on his violent quest to protect the homeland. As things turn sour with the gang, Shaun discovers that violence is the coward's answer.

The Verdict "The film marks the debut of young Thomas Turgoose in the lead role of Shaun and what a peformance he gives. One performance a future star does not make but the young lad is to be applauded on this occassion. Equally impressive is Stephen Graham ("Gangs of New York") as the dark, destructive, evil Combo. Shane Meadows fascinating story and direction are faultless and thoroughly deserving of all the kudos critics around the world have heaped upon his creative head. "This Is England" revives memories of an England during a troubled eighties, plagued by racial hatred, soccer violence and ugly skinhead gangs. "This Is England" makes great watching, not only for two brilliant performances, but also because it serves as a reminder of how misguided and vulnerable young minds can be hijacked and manipulted by right wing groups such as the National Front. "This Is England" also features a brilliant soundtrack which you'll have to buy through a reputable on-line music store. Lovers of quality 'art-house' cinema should make time to see this highly entertaining film. Very recommmended. 4 1/2 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "THIS IS ENGLAND" stars .......
Stephen Graham ["Dancin' Thru the Dark", "Snatch", "Gangs of New York" and "Goal!"]; Jo Hartley ["Dead Man's Shoes", "Me and Her" and "Northern Soul"]; Andrew Shim ["A Room for Romeo Brass", "Once Upon a Time in the Midlands" and "Dead Man's Shoes"]; Vicky McClure ["A Room for Romeo Brass", "Birth Day" and "The Stairwell"]; Joseph Gilgun ["Coronation Street", "Big Dippers" and "Emmerdale"]; Perry Benson ["Scum", "The Killing Kind", "Capital Punishment" and "Cheeky"] and Thomas Turgoose ["This Is England"] as Shaun.
"THIS IS ENGLAND" was .......
directed by Shane Meadows ["A Room for Romeo Brass", "Once Upon a Time in the Midlands", "Dead Man's Shoe" and "The Stairwell"]; screenplay by Shane Meadows ["Where's the Money, Ronnie?", "A Room for Romeo Brass", "Northern Soul" and "The Stairwell"]; additional casting by Michelle Smith ["This Boy's Story", "My Kingdom" and "Snaps"]; costume design by Jo Thompson ["The Silent Treatment", "Stingray" and "Scenes of a Sexual Nature"]; production design by Mark Leese ["The Magdalene Sisters", "Things to Do Before You're 30" and "On a Clear Day"]; edited by Chris Wyatt ["The Weekend", "Shadow Of The Vampire", "Far from China" and "Dead Man's Shoes"]; cinematography by Danny Cohen ["Vanished", "Only Human", "Dead Man's Shoes" and "33X Around The Sun"]; original music by Ludovico Einaudi ["Somewhere in the City ", "Not of This World", "Alexandria", "Mussolini, Churchill e cartoline" and "Starfish Tango"]; produced by Mark Herbert ["Dead Man's Shoes", "Scummy Man" and "Grow Your Own"]. Who's Who?

Thomas Turgoose Stephen Graham Jo Hartley Andrew Shim Vicky McClure Joseph Gilgun Perry Benson George Newton Frank Harper Jack O'Connell Kieran Hardcastle Matthew Blamires Chanel Cresswell Sophie Ellerby Hannah Walters

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Shaun Combo Cynthia Fields Milky Lol Woody Meggy Banjo Lenny Pukey Nicholls Kez Teasing Kid Kelly Pob Nell the Shoeshop Lady

Run Time 102 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Madman Entertainment - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.