Oi, Buckley...

judasmuppet · Post by **judasmuppet** » 11 Oct 2006, 21:50

...this sounds worth looking into for inspiration.

Dead Man's Shoes
Paul Byrnes, Reviewer
October 11, 2006

A dark story of revenge, set in the rolling green hills of the English midlands.

Drama
90 minutes
United Kingdom
Director: Shane Meadows
Actors: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell

FILMS by Shane Meadows always feel like stories based on local legends, the kind that kids tell each other on a wet night, camped under a bridge.

"There was this bloke I heard about who wasn't right in the head …"

Paddy Considine usually plays the bloke who's not right in the head. He ran amok in A Room for Romeo Brass, the second feature from Meadows, and he's the co-writer of this film, a dark story of revenge, set in the rolling green hills of the English midlands - the only place Meadows ever sets a film. (His others are Twenty Four Seven and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.)

Meadows, who's 33, grew up working-class in Uttoxeter, near Nottingham. He started making films in his late teens, with equipment borrowed from the local media centre for the unemployed. He has made more than 70 shorts and continues to do them as a way of workshopping ideas and characters.

Dead Man's Shoes comes out of at least four shorts he and Considine made together. Those in turn were inspired by local stories, things that happened to them or people they knew as they were growing up.

This is what defines Meadows and distinguishes him from most other filmmakers in Britain. He remains part of the small, non-metropolitan community he depicts; close enough to the lives of his characters to smell the beer on their breath and the vinegar on their chips. With Considine, whom he has known since his youth, he has an actor who knows the same people and stories, and can imbue them with a sense of life and menace. Their films together are a strange combination of social realism, comedy and extreme violence.

Dead Man's Shoes is partly inspired by American westerns and revenge fantasies like Death Wish, but it's the localism that makes it vibrate. It's also the rich sense of incongruity: Meadows likes to draw blood from characters whose lives are otherwise deeply, even boringly, domestic. Such things are not supposed to happen in pretty English vales of weeping willows and questing voles, but they do. Everyone fantasises when young about killing someone who has done them a great wrong; this is about a man who does it.

Two characters walk along a country lane, past dry stone walls and ancient trees, in beautiful English countryside. They hole up in a deserted farmhouse, then venture into the nearby town. While we're still wondering who they are, the story shifts into a black-and-white flashback. A bunch of guys are smoking dope and dropping acid and making fun of a young man who's mentally slow. This is Anthony (Toby Kebbell), one of the two walkers. The other is Richard, his older brother (Considine). Back in the present, Anthony points out one of the tormentors to his brother. Richard goes to work.

At first he just scares the guys, letting them know he's back from the army. He wears a green army jacket and an expression that says trouble (the jacket is a nod to Travis Bickle, the avenging angel from Taxi Driver, methinks). When Richard appears at the door of a club run by Sonny the chief dealer (Gary Stretch), wearing an old military gas mask, the bad boys start to wobble. Sonny's crew are mostly shell-suited zeroes who use too much of their own product. They're so drunk and stoned by the evening that Richard could kill them all in one go, but he draws it out, creating fear.

What's intriguing is that Meadows makes us identify with these small-time hoods, even as he's setting up their executions. They drive around the town crammed into an old Citroen, five big blokes in a Deux Cheveux, with pounding rap music on the stereo. They're ridiculous, but not harmless - as the flashbacks show. Only one of them is a tough guy, the physically powerful Sonny, but Richard's thousand-yard stare rattles even him.

Most of the violence is off-screen, but there's one long scene where it becomes much more confronting. From a gently comical tone early in the film, things turn very serious, very quickly. This sudden change of gear is one of the things Meadows does well. He's good at upsetting our equilibrium, kicking the chair out from under us after he has carefully placed it with his use of comedy. You find yourself swinging in a cold blast of moral ambiguity that's unexpected and confusing. Just exactly how sweet is revenge, when it's this personal?

Eviltoastman · Post by **Eviltoastman** » 12 Oct 2006, 01:42

Everything but the "rolling green hills of the English midlands" was appealing. The (west) midlands are the arsepit of the world.

judasmuppet · Post by **judasmuppet** » 12 Oct 2006, 03:30

It sounds it.

Thunder Beer · Post by **Thunder Beer** » 12 Oct 2006, 10:26

Whatever you do, DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!!

Its the worst piece of crap Ive seen since The 51st State!!

Holy fuck I hated this flick!

But I guess if you like movies such as Boondock Saints, Suicide Kings or any Robert Carlyle movie, you'll probably like this... Or any movie that has words like this printed on the cover; "Better than Trainspotting", "The new Pulp Fiction", or "I loved this movie- Quentin Tarantino"...

If this sounds appealing, go a see Dead Man's Shoes.... But dont come back here!

Thunder Beer · Post by **Thunder Beer** » 12 Oct 2006, 10:37

What in the fuck???

The user rating for this movie, from imdb.com, is 7.8/10???

Fuck, people are stupid!

I bet the only voters are idiots who thinks Guy Ritchie makes great movies...

judasmuppet · Post by **judasmuppet** » 12 Oct 2006, 18:37

You haven't told me why I wouldn't like this.

"Better than Trainspotting", "The new Pulp Fiction", or "I loved this movie- Quentin Tarantino"

I tend to ignore these things when I see them. They don't usually confirm or deny a film's watchability. Point in case being Chungking Express. For some reason the DVD was marketed to the US under Tarantino's banner, which would have placed a false expectation on the viewer as to the "type" of movie contained therein.

ReverseEngineer · Post by **ReverseEngineer** » 12 Oct 2006, 20:07

Quentin Tarantino will whore his name out on anything.

Mobiesque · Post by **Mobiesque** » 13 Oct 2006, 04:01

I did like the quote on the cover of the bloodduster dvd.

"This band is shit" - Lindsay (Frenzal Rhomb)

Thunder Beer · Post by **Thunder Beer** » 16 Oct 2006, 12:04

judasmuppet";p="811704 wrote:You haven't told me why I wouldn't like this.

Hopefully because you have a brain!

Iam serious about this movie... Its really really bad! I hate movies that tries to be all clever and shit! Awful plot, the ending has been done ten thousand times before, the "black" humour doenst work at all...
But most important, I was bored the whole time!

Forget about this movie Judas... Go see Ondskan instead!! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338309/

Or if you really want to see Paddy Considine, go see "In America"!

judasmuppet · Post by **judasmuppet** » 16 Oct 2006, 18:33

Yeah, I've seen Ondskan. It was pretty good, but I hear the book is even better. Jan Guillou is big business in Sweden, particularly for his detective/crime books. Ondskan is supposedly about his time at school.

I've read two books from his "Arn" trilogy, which I've just noticed has been announced for a film version ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837106/ ). This could be a one hell of a great epic film. I really hope they don't fuck it up. Mads Mikkelsen looks to be attached, which should help. There are rumours of Stellan Skarsgård being involved. I hope that doesn't happen. I fucking hate that prick's acting.

Thunder Beer · Post by **Thunder Beer** » 17 Oct 2006, 08:33

I read the book after I saw the movie, and it was good. But I wish I had read it before I saw the movie instead...
Ive actually met Jan Guillou... He was at my school to talk about leadership, and semed like a nice fella! I havent read any of his other work, but my mother used to like him!

Iam not a big fan of Stellan myself, he mostly play boring roles... Mikkelsen is cool though!

judasmuppet · Post by **judasmuppet** » 17 Oct 2006, 18:36

You should read the Arn books. They're very readable.

Did Guillou look like a cuddly teddy-bear in a leather jacket?

Rick Cave · Post by **Rick Cave** » 17 Oct 2006, 19:06

I like Toby's use of the exclamation point.

Thunder Beer · Post by **Thunder Beer** » 18 Oct 2006, 11:25

judasmuppet";p="813551 wrote:You should read the Arn books. They're very readable.

Did Guillou look like a cuddly teddy-bear in a leather jacket?

Yeah, except that he wore a brown blazer if I remember correct..

Rick Cave";p="813569 wrote:I like Toby's use of the exclamation point.

Thanks, so do I...

I use em a lot, probably because I read so many comic books!!!!

(Or perhaps Iam just a bit dumb, and dont understand when or how to use them, but think they look nice).

judasmuppet · Post by **judasmuppet** » 26 May 2007, 03:19

judasmuppet";p="813162 wrote:Yeah, I've seen Ondskan. It was pretty good, but I hear the book is even better. Jan Guillou is big business in Sweden, particularly for his detective/crime books. Ondskan is supposedly about his time at school.

I've read two books from his "Arn" trilogy, which I've just noticed has been announced for a film version ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837106/ ). This could be a one hell of a great epic film. I really hope they don't fuck it up. Mads Mikkelsen looks to be attached, which should help. There are rumours of Stellan Skarsgård being involved. I hope that doesn't happen. I fucking hate that prick's acting.

Clip from the new movie:
http://svt.se/svt/play/video.jsp?a=835599