Somers Town

Plot synopsis:
Somers Town follows several days in the lives of two teenage boys, Tomo and Marek, who develop a mutual trust and form an unlikely friendship. Marek, a Polish immigrant, lives with his father, who drinks too much. The film begins with Tomo running away to London from a lonely, difficult life in Nottingham. When Tomo arrives at his destination, he attempts to enjoy cans of Carling that he asked a stranger to purchase for him. His luck changes when three boys approach him and ask him questions. The gang robs Tomo of his bag, which contains all of his money and clothes. They also beat him up, leaving him severely bruised.
In a local café Tomo approaches Marek who has taken photographs of the beautiful French waitress. To tease Marek, Tomo runs away with Marek's photographs, but then gives them back, and they become friends. Marek explains that the woman in the photographs is his girlfriend, and her name is Maria. Since they have neither kissed nor done anything remotely sexual, Tomo thinks she is just a friend of Marek's.
Tomo then lives clandestinely at Marek's place. The latter is adamant that his father not discover Tomo's existence at the flat. When Tomo and Marek find a wheelchair left in the street as rubbish, they offer to take Maria home in it. They describe it as being her 'special taxi.' She enjoys the ride,and she kisses both boys upon arriving at her flat. Maria tells them she likes them equally. The next scene shows Marek outside the door of the toilet. He encourages Tomo to hurry up. Tomo is in the bathroom and cannot be huried. Marek is worried that his father has only gone to the shops and will catch Tomo. Marek then catches a naked Tomo sitting on the edge of the bathtub masturbating while looking at a picture of Maria. Tomo, however, is not embarrassed and laughs at the interruption.
Tomo and Marek then pass by the café where they learn that Maria has gone home to France because one of her family members fell ill. The boys are upset that Maria did not inform them, and that they bought food for her that she will not be able to eat. Troubled, the boys become drunk on the wine that they bought for Maria and make a mess of Marek's flat. Marek's father catches the pair, throws Tomo out of the flat, and tells his son to clean up the mess. Marek then expresses to his father how lonely he is. A neighbour lets Tomo live with him, on the condition that Tomo perform whatever tasks he demands. Tomo and Marek come up with an idea to save up money to travel to France together.
A hand-held camera reveals the two boys travelling to France. They meet the waitress, who embraces them and is very affectionate towards them. The last shot of the film shows Marek and Tomo each giving the French waitress a kiss on the cheek, as she smiles. The trip to France is filmed in colour.

Tags: romantic

Review:
The answer comes in the form of 'Somers Town',a gritty,grainy black & white film (with colour inserts) with a real "do it yourself" (or,D.I.Y.)look to it, that wears it's heart on it's sleeve.
The story concerns two teen aged boys,Tomo (played by Thomas Turgoose,from 'This Is England'),a homeless lad that managed to escape a harrowing home life in the north-Midlands to run wild in the streets of London, and Marek (played by newcomer Piotr Jagiello),a young lad, who is living with his divorced father,Mariusz (played by Ireneusz Czap),both immigrants from Poland living in London.
Tomo & Marek meet under some dubious circumstances,with Marek not liking Tomo much at first,but the two forge an uneasy friendship,fall in love with the same woman (a French waitress,Maria,played by Elisa Lasowski),and generally become B.F.F's (best friends forever).
Paul Fraser writes a heartfelt screenplay about two opposites that overcome odds to find friendship (Tomo is easily the most unlikely to be able to even have a friend,due to his scrappy nature,while Marek is lonely,due to his father's hard drinking with his co-workers).
Natasha Braier's kitchen sink,black & white/colour photography (shot in monochrome HD)gives this film it's character look,and the crisp editing really works to give this film the kudos it deserves.
Shane Meadows' new release, Somers Town, has received mixed reviews in the British press.
I would contend that although the style of Meadows sits rather awkwardly with the involvement of Eurostar, the film itself is a triumph: funny, intelligent and poignant.Set in an area of inner city London near the construction site of the new Eurostar train terminal, the film follows the fortunes of two young boys from troubled backgrounds.
Thurgoose is superb in this lead role, cheeky, rude even, but charming and disarming  a far cry from the youths who attack him in the film's opening.Tomo crosses paths with Marek (played by Piotr Jagiello), a young Polish immigrant living with his father, Marius.
They also help out budding salesman Graham, a slightly absurd and very amusing Del Boy character.The dialogue amongst the characters in Somers Town is excellent, often hilarious but at times sad and moving.
The wistful, poignant ending throws light on the preceding film and affirms the themes of rootlessness, despair and dreams of escape.With the wealth of Hollywood blockbusters and fine foreign-language films being produced this year it has been easy to overlook the films emerging closer to home, but this superb film has made me sit up and look for more British cinema..
Despite these stereotypical characters, this is an amazingly powerful film.I'm a white middle-class English man and I've spent a lot of my life living in inner cities (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Milton Keynes).
Shane Meadows ("This Is England"), directing from a strikingly authentic Paul Fraser script, has crafted a winner with so much to like that it's hard to know where to begin.The film takes its name from an area of inner London where the landscape is dominated by monstrous natural gas tanks and the construction of a station for a Channel Tunnel rail link.
One day Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) appears out of nowhere, a boy Marek's age who is little more than a street urchin from the East Midlands to the locals.
We know where they're going -- how they get there is at the heart of "Somers Town." The outstanding supporting cast includes a sweetly understated Elisa Lasowski as Maria, the local girl who they both fall for, and the hilarious Perry Benson as Graham, who provides much of the film's comic relief (not that it needs any more than the boys already provide) as an eccentric neighbor who is literally indescribable.
The soundtrack is simply a perfect match, with a playlist of tender acoustic songs that seems tailor-made for the narrative.Everything about this film says "gentle and tender," from the friendship between the two boys -- what could almost be described as a platonic love story, to the longing the two have for Maria -- the object of affection who is always just out of reach, if only by age and maturity, and even to the father's tentative but loving relationship to his son -- in stark contrast to typical American films where the two would be constantly butting heads.More than anything, though, there is no doubt that Turgoose and Jagiello carry this film on their young shoulders.
It's no wonder that Turgoose and Jagiello each received the jury award for Best Actor here at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where "Somers Town" had its North American Premiere.
Shane Meadows' beautiful snapshot of life for two teenagers in North London, "Somers Town", is a million miles away from "This is England" in tone, but has no less class or brilliance about it.
Filmed in wonderful black and white, this is a delightful, entertaining and involving piece about youth, culture and friendship.The power of Meadows's film-making is in his characters.
Something rings fundamentally true about the people that he brings to the screen, and the writing of Paul Fraser (a long time Meadows-collaborator) is a great help to this film.
He is ably supported, not just by Piotr Jagiello, who plays the Polish teenager Marek, but by the rest of the small, but perfectly formed, ensemble.This film is not just an entertaining and moving piece, but is also a beautiful film with a dash of severity.
Britain's debates on immigration often ignore the individuals involved in the issues, and that scene cuts right to an unexplored area of the matter.The beauty of the film is not just in its emotions and characters, but also in its photography.
Though clearly a bit of a "quickie" project made in the immediate afterglow of This Is England - and featuring that film's young star Thomas Turgoose in one of the two main roles - the DV-shot, (mainly) black-and-white, minimal-budgeted 'Somers Town' is by no means a "minor" Meadows.
Therefore perfect to consume on a quiet sunny afternoon.By not being too long, this film does not loose out in being concise, it feels like every short scene is of real value to the story.
This is a shame because deep within the movie, there is definite heart and some strong themes, yet smothered by countless scenes of uninteresting, minute details, this follow up to Meadows' previous success feels more like a forgettable intermission rather than a whole, solid production.Set in modern day London, around the construction of the Channel train system, Somers Town tells the tale of two teenage boys as they slowly find their way into their new and unfamiliar setting.
Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is from the East-Midlands of England, and having "nothing" back home (this is all that is revealed) has ventured to London to try and make something of himself; he doesn't know what he's going to do, but it seems he doesn't have much choice either way.
This side of London isn't pretty, as Tomo finds out early on when he's brutally mugged, and so the photography does well to echo the film's more ambitious, arty nuances used to portray the gritty, down to earth side of the story.
One thing that it complements really well however, and not to positive effect, is the film's minimalist nature; the black and white does well to bring to the life the film's greatest, most poignant sequences, yet the filling between these areas becomes a lot less interesting to watch as a result.
The actors do a strong job with the script and meadows certainly manages to get more than a few compelling scenes out of all involved, but the overwhelming feeling by the end is one of disquieted indifference; there's no denying that these seventy minutes feature some fine moments, but such indulgences could probably have been better suited to a short film format.
In some ways Somers Town is a bit of a departure for Meadows as it is nowhere near as gritty as some of his previous work.
The performance of Perry Benson as Graham is also fantastic and all the characters in the film are very true to life.The film is in black and white apart from the last couple of minutes and at 75 minutes is extremely short for a feature.
In bleak contrast to the director's last film, This Is England, Somers Town has none of its depth, subtlety and emotion.
The aggressive and outgoing Tomo and the shy, lonely Marek make for an improbable match, but they gradually become fast friends.One of the delights of the film is in its capturing the close friendship between the two boys.
Following the success of This is England, Meadows has come south for a small story about a minor friendship between two young men who finds themselves in need of one another to some extent.
The fact that the bigger picture of these two lives is largely left in the background is a bit of a problem but then it is hard to see how all that could have been brought in with the budget and time constraints.Meadows directs the film well though and should be commended for staying in smaller British films that he wants to make.
Czop is convincing and I also enjoyed Benson's small-time wheeler/dealer.Overall Somers Town is not that great a film and it will not show up amongst the best works from Meadows but it is not without its appeal.
1st watched 8/9/2013 – 7 out of 10(Dir-Shane Meadows): Charming slice of life drama about a couple of young boys in London who don't have much for themselves at the beginning of the movie but find friendship kind of accidentally, which provides for them the support that they both need.
It's the story of teenagers Tomo and Marek and their unlikely friendship in London.
Shane Meadows is an under-acknowledged genius, and in this short film about the friendship between two boys, lippy Tomo and drippy Marek, all of his strengths are on view (in spite of its brevity): the ability to coach brilliant performances out of largely unproven casts, hilarious yet real dialogue, simple but atmospheric cinematography and an excellent soundtrack provided by his long-term friend and collaborator Gavin Clark.
Anais Nin said, "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." A new world is indeed born for two lonely teenagers in Shane Meadows' Somers Town, a spirited 70-minute exploration of the bonds that can arise out of mutual need.
Written by frequent Meadows collaborator Paul Fraser and shot in high contrast black and white, the film stars Thomas Turgoose, the twelve-year-old Skinhead in This is England as Tomo, a runaway orphan from Nottingham.Tomo comes to London to find something better in life but is beaten and robbed of his money and belongings on his first night away from home.
He soon meets Marek (Piotr Jagiello), an introverted Polish teen who lives with his father in one of the flats in Somers Town, a working class area in Northern London.
Supported by an outstanding acoustic soundtrack of songs by Gavin Clarke and Ted Barnes, Meadows captures the grittiness of blue-collar existence but balances it with a light touch that makes the film a thorough delight.One of the funniest sequences is when the two steal a bag of clothes from the Laundromat that turn out to be mostly women's garments which Tomo is forced to wear simply because he doesn't have anything else.
Somers Town is so natural and the character's growing pains so poignant that you will have a hard time ever getting it out of your head..
Much as I love Shane Meadows, and much as I enjoyed the the naivety of Tommy Turgoose in last year's excellent "This Is England", I'm afraid TT cannot carry a film alone.
I watched it in Nottingham which is where one of the main character's home is said to be in the film which added a certain local feel to it.Anyway, shot in black and white this film is about two lads who eventually become good friends.
Tomo (Turgoose) moves from Nottingham to London in the hope of a new start and befriends Marek (Jagiello), a Polish immigrant who has a crush on Maria (Lasowski) After viewing Shane Meadows impressive drama This is England this 2008 drama sounded very appealing and I am glad to say the same level of drama and sophistication is as present as it was in 2006 and with the same level of issues and entertainment present, this makes engaging viewing, if not as passionate as his previous release.One of the main reasons Somers Town isn't as strong as the Bafta winner is Thomas Turgoose's protagonist Tomo.
A dramatic instalment is Tomo but the character development and the way it is handled in the latter part is appreciative and almost heart warming, with a few twists thrown in.Piotr Jagiello is very impressive as Polish immigrant Marek.
Having the film set in black and white makes these concepts feel that extra dramatic and therefore more powerful.Meadows' direction is tackled very delicately with some artistic soft shots thrown in to appreciate the story in context, including a wonderful montage in the closing stages.
The relaxing score further engrosses viewers into the sentimental story.Whereas this isn't as strong as Meadows' other film, Somers Town takes comfort from a passionate collection of protagonists and thrives on the drama of real life..
Being from Nottingham myself, I sort of feel duty-bound to watch Shane Meadows' films.
What drives the film then is the comic spectacle of the unlikely relationship that develops between young Tomo and a Polish immigrant he meets.
And it lacks run-time: 70 minutes and no discernible 'ending' - you may well feel like heading back to the ticket booth and asking for a refund afterwards.Not an unmitigated disaster, but watch Shane's other films first..
Somers Town is endless - in the very literal meaning of the word.The opening minutes of this nicely shot black and white piece, set just north of London's Marylebone Road, are wonderfully atmospheric and you settle into your seat with a sense that you are about to be greatly entertained in some way, such is the deftness of the set-up.
At the end, Tomo and Marek visit Maria in Paris (via Eurostar of course), the monochromatic feature finally bursting, Wizard Of Oz-style, into colour.Narrative-wise it's not exactly There Will Be Blood, but to call Somers Town a stop-gap for Meadows is to insult another beautifully crafted film, as well as a great London film, from the finest British director working today.
Somers Town, the kind of movie critics refer to as a "gem", is as charming, funny and authentic as any of his major works; the fact it achieves this in just over an hour and with a corporate backer tousling its hair makes the victory even sweeter.The ensemble cast is terrific, and share a fantastically real camaraderie (see especially the tender scenes between Jagiello and Czop as the shored-up father and son, missing the wife and mother who walked out on them back home).
This being a Shane Meadows film, however, it's just another uproarious, naturalistic scene from teenage life.Likewise, a scene in which Graham the fence tells Tomo that in order to bunk down at his he'll have to do everything he tells him to.
how is Tomo living and supporting himself?) in what had been to that point an enjoyable exercise in social realism.In short, yes, a film funded in this way obviously does have an impact on the artistic decisions taken by the director.
There are hints of a good film here, but ultimately it's disappointing and comes nowhere close to the previous efforts of Shane Meadows.Set in London, the film tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two youngsters who are experiencing the city for the first time.
Marek is a Polish immigrant, who is living in a flat with his Father.The film lacks any real direction.
The acting from the boy who plays Marek is poor at best, and even Thomas Turgoose, who was excellent in This Is England really struggles.
In fact the most interesting scenes are those with Marek's Dad. We get a real sense of the love he has for his son, but also his pain at having left his former life behind and bringing up a child on his own.The film is very short, but there are still some scenes which could have been cut shorter or omitted altogether.
I liked the last sequence, and having the trip to Paris in colour was a nice touch (the rest of the film is in black and white).
If you've seen any of Shane Meadows other work, maybe check Somers Town out just to see how it stacks up, but I think you'll be left disappointed..
This story of the unlikely friendship between a working class Nottingham lad and the son of a Polish labourer in London contains only the most cursory of plots, and as the film unfolds the suspicion grows that, even at little more than an hour long, there's a little too much padding here.
There are two musical montages - one, in colour, which may be a dream or wish-fulfilment sequence - and a sub-plot about the relationship between Marek and his hard-drinking father that goes nowhere.Lack of a storyline isn't necessarily a bad thing (and despite the negative tone of this review Somers Town isn't a bad film), but if a filmmaker is going to rely on observation in a character-driven tale then those characters have to be interesting.
The youngsters give decent performances - especially Thomas Turgoose, who also appeared in Meadows' This Is England, and the director's eye for detail means that the film doesn't feel boring, but once it's over you're left wondering what the point was - and the significance (or wisdom) of having Turgoose's character ending up wearing a dress and dusting knick-knacks like a midget housewife near the film's conclusion..