Young Tom, a runaway from his home in Nottingham, encounters Marek, a young Polish immigrant who lives in Somers Town, a London neighbourhood by St Pancras railway station.
It's a mismatched friendship: Tom (dubbed Tomo by Marek) is full of youthful swagger and Marek, an amateur photographer who lives with his disciplinarian father, is more introspective and cautious. Their dynamic is uneasy and awkward at first as each teen believes himself to be the more mature, but a genuine rapport develops between the two.
When Tomo and Marek both fall for the same girl, the common ground between them is further solidified.
Shane Meadows moves from his usual Midlands setting down to London for Somers Town, but he explores territory quite familiar to him: the working class and fathers and sons. Thomas Turgoose, who stars as Tom, manages to be cocky and vulnerable at the same time, and he lives up to the expectations of the most promising newcomer prize he received from the British Independent Film Awards for This is England.
CAST
Marek - Piotr Jagiello
Tom - Thomas Turgoose
Marius - Ireneusz Czop
Maria - Elisa Lasowski
Graham - Perry Benson
Jane - Kate Dickie
BACKGROUND
Taken from Shane's own post on the old FORUM on 2nd September 2007:
"I was approached by Eurostar about six months ago to see if I would make a feature length project around the Somers Town area of Kings Cross using kids from there, Paris and possibly Belgium. Although I was going to have creative control, I didn't really want to make a feature film with purely commercial funding and I was also pretty knackered after the This Is England. release, so I turned it down.
However, I did have a shorter idea that I spoke to them about which I suggested they get Paul Fraser to write and said that I would consider doing that if I could re-charge my batteries for a few months and get the 'Le Donk' shoot out of the way.
The script was sent through to me a few weeks ago and to be honest, I was really impressed with what fraser had done and agreed to get involved. It is basically a 30 page script which tells the story of how a young Polish boy and his father come to London to live and work in Somers Town."
TRIVIA
The story and the script for the film were written by Shane's long time friend and collaborator, Paul Fraser who also co-wrote Twentyfour Seven, A Room For Romeo Brass, and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.
The film was originally developed as a promotional short film for Eurostar and their re-development of the Somers Town area. Funding was provided by Eurostar, but total artistic freedom was given to Shane. It was this freedom that eventually lead to the original short film idea turning into a full-length feature.
The musical score for the film is written by Gavin Clark, another long time friend and collaborator of Shane's.
The film was shot in London, Paris, and Warsaw.
Actors Thomas Turgoose and Piotr Jagiello were both born on the same day.
Graham, Tomo & Marek
Perry Benson talks about the characters in the film.
Slide Show
Production photographs accompanied by music from the soundtrack.
Holy Moly!
Interview with Perry Benson who also takes us on a tour of Somers Town.
"Low Are The Punches"
Composers of the film's soundtrack, Gavin Clark & Ted Barnes perform one of the tracks from the film.
BBC Radio 5Live
Mark Kermode reviews the film.
The Metro
Interview with Shane.
Time Out
Interview with Thomas Turgoose
Indie London
Interview with Shane about the film and the film's unusual funding.
The Independent
Interview with Thomas Turgoose about Somers Town and how Shane "saved his bacaon".
The Telegraph
Interview with Thomas Turgoose.
BBC News
An Article about the film's fudning.
The Guardian - Article 1
Article about the film's unusual funding.
Article 2
The Guardian
A negative take on the film's funding.
