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      <title>Film:Somers Town</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/films/Somers_Town/363719/default.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<table width='100%' style='font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><tr><td><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s363719.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' /></td>
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<strong>Title:</strong> Somers Town<br/>
<strong>Year:</strong> 2009<br/>
<strong>Director:</strong> Shane Meadows<br/>
<strong>Plot:</strong> <a href="http://www.spout.com/films/252650/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Dead Man's Shoes</a> and <a href="http://www.spout.com/films/290380/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>This is England</a> director <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___213819/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Shane Meadows</a> takes the helm for this monochromatic childhood drama concerning two young friend living in London, and their efforts not to turn out like their aimless fathers. Tomo has just turned sixteen, and as a result he's no longer under parental care. Eager to escape the Midlands and seek out a better life in London, Tomo sets out for the big city and strikes up a friendship with Polish immigrant Marek while traversing the streets of Somers Town. Marek is a quiet and sensitive boy who harbors a growing interest in photography and still lives with his father. But Marek's father is a hopeless drunk, and doesn't even notice when his son invites Tomo to share their apartment. Most days, Tomo and Marek are content to pass earning some quick cash from an eccentric neighbor, wandering the streets, and admiring a pretty French waitress named Maria who works at a nearby café. Eventually, the two become obsessed with the girl and begin tracking her every move. But one day Maria simply vanishes, leaving the boys to feel as if they have lost their muse. Later that night, Tomo and Marek decide to dull their pain by sharing a bottle. Of course it is this very same night that Marek's father discovers his son has taken in a new roommate, and Toma is swiftly evicted. As a result, the growing bond between the two boys is put to the ultimate test. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide<br/>
<strong>Times Tagged:</strong> 20<br/>
<strong>Number of Lists:</strong> 2<br/>
<strong>Number of blog posts:</strong> 3<br/>
<strong>SpoutRating:</strong> 4<br/>
</td></tr></table>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:57 GMT</pubDate><spout:Title>Somers Town</spout:Title><spout:Year>2009</spout:Year><spout:Director>Shane Meadows</spout:Director><spout:Plot>&lt;a href="http://www.spout.com/films/252650/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Dead Man's Shoes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.spout.com/films/290380/detail.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;This is England&lt;/a&gt; director &lt;a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___213819/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'&gt;Shane Meadows&lt;/a&gt; takes the helm for this monochromatic childhood drama concerning two young friend living in London, and their efforts not to turn out like their aimless fathers. Tomo has just turned sixteen, and as a result he's no longer under parental care. Eager to escape the Midlands and seek out a better life in London, Tomo sets out for the big city and strikes up a friendship with Polish immigrant Marek while traversing the streets of Somers Town. Marek is a quiet and sensitive boy who harbors a growing interest in photography and still lives with his father. But Marek's father is a hopeless drunk, and doesn't even notice when his son invites Tomo to share their apartment. Most days, Tomo and Marek are content to pass earning some quick cash from an eccentric neighbor, wandering the streets, and admiring a pretty French waitress named Maria who works at a nearby café. Eventually, the two become obsessed with the girl and begin tracking her every move. But one day Maria simply vanishes, leaving the boys to feel as if they have lost their muse. Later that night, Tomo and Marek decide to dull their pain by sharing a bottle. Of course it is this very same night that Marek's father discovers his son has taken in a new roommate, and Toma is swiftly evicted. As a result, the growing bond between the two boys is put to the ultimate test. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide</spout:Plot><spout:TimesTagged>20</spout:TimesTagged><spout:taglevel>Tag Target (&gt;10)</spout:taglevel><spout:Numberoflists>2</spout:Numberoflists><spout:NumberOfBlogPosts>3</spout:NumberOfBlogPosts><spout:SpoutRating>4</spout:SpoutRating><spout:FilmCoverURL>http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s363719.jpg</spout:FilmCoverURL><spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL>http://www.spout.com/films/Somers_Town/363719/default.aspx</spout:SpoutFilmDetailURL><spout:type>Film</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: SOMERS TOWN Review</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/7/13/43022.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s363719.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/19702/default.aspx'>Karina</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/default.aspx'>Karina on SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 7/13/2009 9:00:57 AM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 
This review was originally published during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Somers Town opens at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday.
I saw six films at Tribeca this weekend, and five of them were completely blown off the map by Somers Town, Shane Meadows’ practically perfect follow-up to his 2007 triumph, This is England. England was one of my favorite films of last year, but its political/historical aims, admittedly, occasionally overwhelmed Meadows’ more subtle, character-based observations. Somers Town is less ambitious but more impressive, a 70-minute portrait of a moment with zero fat to cut and not a false note.

Like England, Somers stars young Thomas Turgoose as a British teen in search of identity through a surrogate family, but in every way Somers is the tighter, more precise work. Shot mainly in black-and-white in the streets, shops and flats of contemporary London, Somers tracks the friendship between Tomo (Turgoose), a crafty ball of wounded bravado who runs away from his Midlands home and promptly gets mugged, and Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a lonely Polish boy about the same age who secretly sequesters Tomo in the small apartment he shares with his oft-absent construction worker dad. Budding photographer Marek divides his time working odd jobs for a semi-sleazy neighbor, and shyly flirting with Maria, a local French waitress who is friendly but probably a couple of years out of his league. Tomo quickly proves to be adept at both activities, and the boys soon fall into a routine, working together for the funds to fuel their mutual woo.
The dynamic between the two boys is minutely observed, often poignant and very funny. Tomo, in particular, is competitive on every front, but both boys seem to have a silent understanding that they need each other more than either needs to win. When Maria bids farewell one evening with the sing-song salutation, “I love you both the same,” Tomo and Marek don’t fight––they high-five. Maria seems to understand that her role in this barely-pubescent menage a trois is not to pick one or the other, or even to let both down easy, but to function as the catalyst for Tomo and Marek to come together, to project their individual longings for affection towards a common goal and ultimately gain strength from one another. This idea comes across beautifully in the film’s coda, a trip to Paris shot on low-gauge color film stock, a pleasingly gauzy bit of nostalgia that feels softer and less cynical than anything I’ve previously seen in a Meadows film.
Somers Town was originally planned as a short designed to promote  the Eurostar rail line, and its eventual promotion to feature length brings two issues to mind. First, it’s not the only feature in Tribeca’s World Narrative Feature Competition that could very well have been relegated to a sidebar––certainly, films like My Marlon and Brando (formally experimental, if ultimately narratively incompetent) and Let The Right One In (the Swedish vampire film that is so far hands down the most talked about film at this festival) are unlikely to find slots in a major competition elsewhere. For all the criticism leveled at their program Tribeca deserves praise for implementing a curation strategy blind to traditional but ultimately arbitrary distinctions of prestige.
And second, speaking of arbitrary distinctions of prestige: the day after I saw Somers Town, I went to a triumphant sold out screening of Behn Zeitlin’s short Glory at Sea; the day before, we learned that The Pleasure of Being Robbed, another short feature that started life as a promotional short, has been selected as the only American film in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. These are all films that are receiving an enormous amount of attention–and deservedly so–but imagine if Josh Safdie and Shane Meadows’ films had been submitted to festivals at their original intended lengths. Would anyone have taken them nearly as seriously if they had been relegated to a shorts program, or tacked in front of a two-hour feature? Glory at Sea did make its debut within a shorts program at SXSW, but it was singled out by a number of writers for coverage like no short film I’ve ever seen. The rise of web video distribution has created an audience for shorts that far outnumbers the traditional festival audience for features. If critics and festival programmers continue to make it a point to take shorter works seriously, their ghettoization as standard practice might soon be a thing of the past. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:57 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>Karina</spout:postby><spout:postto>Karina on SpoutBlog</spout:postto><spout:postdate>7/13/2009 9:00:57 AM</spout:postdate><spout:body>
This review was originally published during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Somers Town opens at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday.
I saw six films at Tribeca this weekend, and five of them were completely blown off the map by Somers Town, Shane Meadows’ practically perfect follow-up to his 2007 triumph, This is England. England was one of my favorite films of last year, but its political/historical aims, admittedly, occasionally overwhelmed Meadows’ more subtle, character-based observations. Somers Town is less ambitious but more impressive, a 70-minute portrait of a moment with zero fat to cut and not a false note.

Like England, Somers stars young Thomas Turgoose as a British teen in search of identity through a surrogate family, but in every way Somers is the tighter, more precise work. Shot mainly in black-and-white in the streets, shops and flats of contemporary London, Somers tracks the friendship between Tomo (Turgoose), a crafty ball of wounded bravado who runs away from his Midlands home and promptly gets mugged, and Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a lonely Polish boy about the same age who secretly sequesters Tomo in the small apartment he shares with his oft-absent construction worker dad. Budding photographer Marek divides his time working odd jobs for a semi-sleazy neighbor, and shyly flirting with Maria, a local French waitress who is friendly but probably a couple of years out of his league. Tomo quickly proves to be adept at both activities, and the boys soon fall into a routine, working together for the funds to fuel their mutual woo.
The dynamic between the two boys is minutely observed, often poignant and very funny. Tomo, in particular, is competitive on every front, but both boys seem to have a silent understanding that they need each other more than either needs to win. When Maria bids farewell one evening with the sing-song salutation, “I love you both the same,” Tomo and Marek don’t fight––they high-five. Maria seems to understand that her role in this barely-pubescent menage a trois is not to pick one or the other, or even to let both down easy, but to function as the catalyst for Tomo and Marek to come together, to project their individual longings for affection towards a common goal and ultimately gain strength from one another. This idea comes across beautifully in the film’s coda, a trip to Paris shot on low-gauge color film stock, a pleasingly gauzy bit of nostalgia that feels softer and less cynical than anything I’ve previously seen in a Meadows film.
Somers Town was originally planned as a short designed to promote  the Eurostar rail line, and its eventual promotion to feature length brings two issues to mind. First, it’s not the only feature in Tribeca’s World Narrative Feature Competition that could very well have been relegated to a sidebar––certainly, films like My Marlon and Brando (formally experimental, if ultimately narratively incompetent) and Let The Right One In (the Swedish vampire film that is so far hands down the most talked about film at this festival) are unlikely to find slots in a major competition elsewhere. For all the criticism leveled at their program Tribeca deserves praise for implementing a curation strategy blind to traditional but ultimately arbitrary distinctions of prestige.
And second, speaking of arbitrary distinctions of prestige: the day after I saw Somers Town, I went to a triumphant sold out screening of Behn Zeitlin’s short Glory at Sea; the day before, we learned that The Pleasure of Being Robbed, another short feature that started life as a promotional short, has been selected as the only American film in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. These are all films that are receiving an enormous amount of attention–and deservedly so–but imagine if Josh Safdie and Shane Meadows’ films had been submitted to festivals at their original intended lengths. Would anyone have taken them nearly as seriously if they had been relegated to a shorts program, or tacked in front of a two-hour feature? Glory at Sea did make its debut within a shorts program at SXSW, but it was singled out by a number of writers for coverage like no short film I’ve ever seen. The rise of web video distribution has created an audience for shorts that far outnumbers the traditional festival audience for features. If critics and festival programmers continue to make it a point to take shorter works seriously, their ghettoization as standard practice might soon be a thing of the past. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: SOMERS TOWN Review</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/7/13/43021.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s363719.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/9325/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/default.aspx'>SpoutBlog on spout.com</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 7/13/2009 9:00:43 AM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> 
This review was originally published during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Somers Town opens at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday.
I saw six films at Tribeca this weekend, and five of them were completely blown off the map by Somers Town, Shane Meadows’ practically perfect follow-up to his 2007 triumph, This is England. England was one of my favorite films of last year, but its political/historical aims, admittedly, occasionally overwhelmed Meadows’ more subtle, character-based observations. Somers Town is less ambitious but more impressive, a 70-minute portrait of a moment with zero fat to cut and not a false note.

Like England, Somers stars young Thomas Turgoose as a British teen in search of identity through a surrogate family, but in every way Somers is the tighter, more precise work. Shot mainly in black-and-white in the streets, shops and flats of contemporary London, Somers tracks the friendship between Tomo (Turgoose), a crafty ball of wounded bravado who runs away from his Midlands home and promptly gets mugged, and Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a lonely Polish boy about the same age who secretly sequesters Tomo in the small apartment he shares with his oft-absent construction worker dad. Budding photographer Marek divides his time working odd jobs for a semi-sleazy neighbor, and shyly flirting with Maria, a local French waitress who is friendly but probably a couple of years out of his league. Tomo quickly proves to be adept at both activities, and the boys soon fall into a routine, working together for the funds to fuel their mutual woo.
The dynamic between the two boys is minutely observed, often poignant and very funny. Tomo, in particular, is competitive on every front, but both boys seem to have a silent understanding that they need each other more than either needs to win. When Maria bids farewell one evening with the sing-song salutation, “I love you both the same,” Tomo and Marek don’t fight––they high-five. Maria seems to understand that her role in this barely-pubescent menage a trois is not to pick one or the other, or even to let both down easy, but to function as the catalyst for Tomo and Marek to come together, to project their individual longings for affection towards a common goal and ultimately gain strength from one another. This idea comes across beautifully in the film’s coda, a trip to Paris shot on low-gauge color film stock, a pleasingly gauzy bit of nostalgia that feels softer and less cynical than anything I’ve previously seen in a Meadows film.
Somers Town was originally planned as a short designed to promote  the Eurostar rail line, and its eventual promotion to feature length brings two issues to mind. First, it’s not the only feature in Tribeca’s World Narrative Feature Competition that could very well have been relegated to a sidebar––certainly, films like My Marlon and Brando (formally experimental, if ultimately narratively incompetent) and Let The Right One In (the Swedish vampire film that is so far hands down the most talked about film at this festival) are unlikely to find slots in a major competition elsewhere. For all the criticism leveled at their program Tribeca deserves praise for implementing a curation strategy blind to traditional but ultimately arbitrary distinctions of prestige.
And second, speaking of arbitrary distinctions of prestige: the day after I saw Somers Town, I went to a triumphant sold out screening of Behn Zeitlin’s short Glory at Sea; the day before, we learned that The Pleasure of Being Robbed, another short feature that started life as a promotional short, has been selected as the only American film in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. These are all films that are receiving an enormous amount of attention–and deservedly so–but imagine if Josh Safdie and Shane Meadows’ films had been submitted to festivals at their original intended lengths. Would anyone have taken them nearly as seriously if they had been relegated to a shorts program, or tacked in front of a two-hour feature? Glory at Sea did make its debut within a shorts program at SXSW, but it was singled out by a number of writers for coverage like no short film I’ve ever seen. The rise of web video distribution has created an audience for shorts that far outnumbers the traditional festival audience for features. If critics and festival programmers continue to make it a point to take shorter works seriously, their ghettoization as standard practice might soon be a thing of the past. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog<br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:00:43 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>SpoutBlog</spout:postby><spout:postto>SpoutBlog on spout.com</spout:postto><spout:postdate>7/13/2009 9:00:43 AM</spout:postdate><spout:body>
This review was originally published during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Somers Town opens at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday.
I saw six films at Tribeca this weekend, and five of them were completely blown off the map by Somers Town, Shane Meadows’ practically perfect follow-up to his 2007 triumph, This is England. England was one of my favorite films of last year, but its political/historical aims, admittedly, occasionally overwhelmed Meadows’ more subtle, character-based observations. Somers Town is less ambitious but more impressive, a 70-minute portrait of a moment with zero fat to cut and not a false note.

Like England, Somers stars young Thomas Turgoose as a British teen in search of identity through a surrogate family, but in every way Somers is the tighter, more precise work. Shot mainly in black-and-white in the streets, shops and flats of contemporary London, Somers tracks the friendship between Tomo (Turgoose), a crafty ball of wounded bravado who runs away from his Midlands home and promptly gets mugged, and Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a lonely Polish boy about the same age who secretly sequesters Tomo in the small apartment he shares with his oft-absent construction worker dad. Budding photographer Marek divides his time working odd jobs for a semi-sleazy neighbor, and shyly flirting with Maria, a local French waitress who is friendly but probably a couple of years out of his league. Tomo quickly proves to be adept at both activities, and the boys soon fall into a routine, working together for the funds to fuel their mutual woo.
The dynamic between the two boys is minutely observed, often poignant and very funny. Tomo, in particular, is competitive on every front, but both boys seem to have a silent understanding that they need each other more than either needs to win. When Maria bids farewell one evening with the sing-song salutation, “I love you both the same,” Tomo and Marek don’t fight––they high-five. Maria seems to understand that her role in this barely-pubescent menage a trois is not to pick one or the other, or even to let both down easy, but to function as the catalyst for Tomo and Marek to come together, to project their individual longings for affection towards a common goal and ultimately gain strength from one another. This idea comes across beautifully in the film’s coda, a trip to Paris shot on low-gauge color film stock, a pleasingly gauzy bit of nostalgia that feels softer and less cynical than anything I’ve previously seen in a Meadows film.
Somers Town was originally planned as a short designed to promote  the Eurostar rail line, and its eventual promotion to feature length brings two issues to mind. First, it’s not the only feature in Tribeca’s World Narrative Feature Competition that could very well have been relegated to a sidebar––certainly, films like My Marlon and Brando (formally experimental, if ultimately narratively incompetent) and Let The Right One In (the Swedish vampire film that is so far hands down the most talked about film at this festival) are unlikely to find slots in a major competition elsewhere. For all the criticism leveled at their program Tribeca deserves praise for implementing a curation strategy blind to traditional but ultimately arbitrary distinctions of prestige.
And second, speaking of arbitrary distinctions of prestige: the day after I saw Somers Town, I went to a triumphant sold out screening of Behn Zeitlin’s short Glory at Sea; the day before, we learned that The Pleasure of Being Robbed, another short feature that started life as a promotional short, has been selected as the only American film in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. These are all films that are receiving an enormous amount of attention–and deservedly so–but imagine if Josh Safdie and Shane Meadows’ films had been submitted to festivals at their original intended lengths. Would anyone have taken them nearly as seriously if they had been relegated to a shorts program, or tacked in front of a two-hour feature? Glory at Sea did make its debut within a shorts program at SXSW, but it was singled out by a number of writers for coverage like no short film I’ve ever seen. The rise of web video distribution has created an audience for shorts that far outnumbers the traditional festival audience for features. If critics and festival programmers continue to make it a point to take shorter works seriously, their ghettoization as standard practice might soon be a thing of the past. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog</spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Post: Somers Town (2008)</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/blogs/kowalski76/archive/2008/10/21/36554.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div><img align='left' src='http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s363719.jpg' hspace='10' style='height:80px;' />
<strong>Post By:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/members/139534/default.aspx'>Kowalski76</a><br/>
<strong>Post To:</strong> <a href='http://www.spout.com/blogs/kowalski76/default.aspx'>Rebellious Celluloid</a><br/>
<strong>Post Date:</strong> 10/21/2008 3:48:02 PM<br/>
<strong>Body:</strong> Somers Town; the neighbourhood of London squeezed between the Euston, St. Pancras, and Kings Cross railway termini is the unlikely location and title of Brit director Shane Meadow's latest effort. I say 'unlikely' as it marks the first time Meadows has shot on location outside of his native East Midlands. It also marks his first film since the BAFTA winning 'This Is England'. Sixteen year old runaway Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) arrives in London off the train from Nottingham to a beating from a trio of cockney kids which results in the loss of his bag and wallet. Whilst contemplating his next move Tomo meets Polish immigrant Marek (Piotr Jagiello). The pair form a mutual appreciation society for the lovely Maria (Elisa Lasowski) a French girl who works at the local cafe and they turn their attention to earning some money to spend on wooing her, and finding some clothes and a roof for the potless homeless Tomo.  Granted this is not much of a plot but strong characterisation and Meadows wicked sense of humour made me wish I could hang with Marek and Tomo long after the films 70 minutes running time. The shy and withdrawn immigrant 'Marek' is the ying to the bare-faced cheekiness of Tomo's yang and together they make one of the more engrossing duos I've witnessed in recent years. Thomas Turgoose more than proves the praise he earned from his debut in This Is England was no fluke. He really is staking his claim as the most impressive British actor of his generation. Almost completely shot in grainy black and white 8mm film, Somers Town has a look and feel that harkens back to the 1960's social-realism of Tony Richardson and Lindsay Anderson, and the more recent kitchen-sink brand of drama that has made the likes of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach so popular. The style and technique of Shane's craft is unashamedly cheap yet still manages to elevate the borough of Somers Town itself to a leading role. It's less of a departure from his East Midlands base than I initially expected. The fact that a film this effective can be shot in just ten days is inspiring. Meadows has built a career on portraying the working classes with good humour whilst maintaining a certain grit and determination that comes with a life spent on Britain's council estates and back-streets. This Is England depicted an England in dissaray with racial harmony, but with this outing the coin is flipped showing a multi-cultural society where people of all nationalities and backgrounds can live side-by-side, and truly bond as one. Already sitting pretty amongst my favourite films of the year the only thing that could possibly demote it is the believability of the relationship between the two boys and their muse, Maria. My guess is a release overseas will most likely be limited to very few theatres, if you get the chance to see this film, grab it. It's only an hour-ten of your life, that's 70 minutes you won't regret.  At least half of that you'll spend laughing out loud. Who doesn't like laughing? Anyone?   <br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:48:02 GMT</pubDate><spout:postby>Kowalski76</spout:postby><spout:postto>Rebellious Celluloid</spout:postto><spout:postdate>10/21/2008 3:48:02 PM</spout:postdate><spout:body>Somers Town; the neighbourhood of London squeezed between the Euston, St. Pancras, and Kings Cross railway termini is the unlikely location and title of Brit director Shane Meadow's latest effort. I say 'unlikely' as it marks the first time Meadows has shot on location outside of his native East Midlands. It also marks his first film since the BAFTA winning 'This Is England'. Sixteen year old runaway Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) arrives in London off the train from Nottingham to a beating from a trio of cockney kids which results in the loss of his bag and wallet. Whilst contemplating his next move Tomo meets Polish immigrant Marek (Piotr Jagiello). The pair form a mutual appreciation society for the lovely Maria (Elisa Lasowski) a French girl who works at the local cafe and they turn their attention to earning some money to spend on wooing her, and finding some clothes and a roof for the potless homeless Tomo.  Granted this is not much of a plot but strong characterisation and Meadows wicked sense of humour made me wish I could hang with Marek and Tomo long after the films 70 minutes running time. The shy and withdrawn immigrant 'Marek' is the ying to the bare-faced cheekiness of Tomo's yang and together they make one of the more engrossing duos I've witnessed in recent years. Thomas Turgoose more than proves the praise he earned from his debut in This Is England was no fluke. He really is staking his claim as the most impressive British actor of his generation. Almost completely shot in grainy black and white 8mm film, Somers Town has a look and feel that harkens back to the 1960's social-realism of Tony Richardson and Lindsay Anderson, and the more recent kitchen-sink brand of drama that has made the likes of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach so popular. The style and technique of Shane's craft is unashamedly cheap yet still manages to elevate the borough of Somers Town itself to a leading role. It's less of a departure from his East Midlands base than I initially expected. The fact that a film this effective can be shot in just ten days is inspiring. Meadows has built a career on portraying the working classes with good humour whilst maintaining a certain grit and determination that comes with a life spent on Britain's council estates and back-streets. This Is England depicted an England in dissaray with racial harmony, but with this outing the coin is flipped showing a multi-cultural society where people of all nationalities and backgrounds can live side-by-side, and truly bond as one. Already sitting pretty amongst my favourite films of the year the only thing that could possibly demote it is the believability of the relationship between the two boys and their muse, Maria. My guess is a release overseas will most likely be limited to very few theatres, if you get the chance to see this film, grab it. It's only an hour-ten of your life, that's 70 minutes you won't regret.  At least half of that you'll spend laughing out loud. Who doesn't like laughing? Anyone?   </spout:body></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:comedy</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/comedy/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/comedy/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>comedy</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 1087</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 253</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1342</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:38:30 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>1087</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>253</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1342</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:friendship</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/friendship/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/friendship/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>friendship</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 6791</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 154</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 980</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:42:20 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>6791</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>154</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>980</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:drama</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/drama/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/drama/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>drama</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 527</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 102</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 627</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:01:29 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>527</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>102</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>627</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:father</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/father/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/father/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>father</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 3580</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 51</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 213</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:51:56 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>3580</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>51</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>213</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:coming-of-age</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/coming-of-age/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/coming-of-age/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>coming-of-age</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 83</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 40</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 99</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:47:51 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>83</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>40</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>99</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:London</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/London/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/London/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>London</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 46</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 30</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 55</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:18:09 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>46</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>30</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>55</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:homeless</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/homeless/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/homeless/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>homeless</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 330</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 17</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 31</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:39:36 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>330</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>17</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>31</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:blackandwhite</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/blackandwhite/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/blackandwhite/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>blackandwhite</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 20</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 16</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 26</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:23:37 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>20</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>16</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>26</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:infatuation</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/infatuation/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/infatuation/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>infatuation</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 137</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 10</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 15</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:02:52 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>137</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>10</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>15</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:2008</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/2008/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/2008/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>2008</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 18</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 6</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 19</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:03:49 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>18</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>6</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>19</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:immigrants</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/immigrants/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/immigrants/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>immigrants</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 9</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 6</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 9</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2009 23:31:54 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>9</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>6</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>9</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:kitchensink</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/kitchensink/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/kitchensink/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>kitchensink</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 2</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 2</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:03:49 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>2</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>1</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>2</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:socialrealism</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/socialrealism/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/socialrealism/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>socialrealism</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 1</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:03:49 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>1</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>1</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>1</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:tff</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/tff/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/tff/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>tff</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 116</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 116</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:50:42 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>116</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>1</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>116</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
    <item>
      <title>Spout Tag:tribeca</title>
      <link>http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/tribeca/MemberTagFilms.aspx</link><description><![CDATA[<div style='display:block;height:120px;width:400px;font:10px/10px Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;'><a href='/members/0/tags/tribeca/MemberTagFilms.aspx'>tribeca</a>
<strong><br/> Number of films tagged:</strong> 146</br><br/>
<strong>Number of people who tagged:</strong> 1</br><br/>
<strong>Number of times used:</strong> 146</br><br/>
</div>]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:53:15 GMT</pubDate><spout:numFilms>146</spout:numFilms><spout:numPeople>1</spout:numPeople><spout:timesUsed>146</spout:timesUsed><spout:type>Tag</spout:type></item>
  </channel>
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