Dead Man's Shoes
The only work I'd previously seen by Shane Meadows was Once Upon A Time In The Midlands which whilst I enjoyed, didn't seem to live up to everyone else's hype and glorification, in my eyes. With Meadows being brought to wider acclaim with This Is England I thought I'd catch up on his work with this film.
However, I found that I seemed to have the same problems with it as I did with '...Midlands.' The plot seemed to alternate between being too slow and then too fast; when it came to scenes I enjoyed they seemed to end too quickly. Also the acting seemed jarring in places. I understand, or at least presume, the desired effect by having the acting raw and unpolished to give a more gritty realistic English quality, but there were times when it detracted rather than gave a unique voice.
The film wasn't a bad film, despite my slight quibbles; the 'trip out' scene was superb, and the climax's revelations were a surprise and whilst not as hard hitting as intended worked well as a commentary on salvation and retribution.
I may be in the minority (definitely going by the reviews and comparisons on the blurb) but hey...
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