Jacob recommended this to me when I saw him last. I really enjoyed the English realism, set in 1983 at a time of Thatcher, the Falklands War, and incredibly pervasive social disadvantage/decay. This is the movie Romper Stomper and American History X wanted to be. The characters are well-rounded and the story just naturally ambles along, up to the climactic scene, where Combo, who was otherwise quite nuanced for a skinhead, flames out in a way typical for his kind on film. Before that point the movie only toes the edge in a most unsettling way.
There are loads of loose ends and so I am not surprised there is a follow-on TV show This is England '86, which I think is what Jacob saw at the Sydney Film Festival.
I'll be looking for more from director Shane Meadows and these actors.
Roger Ebert: three-and-a-half stars.
