This Is England.

"By turns gentle and brutal, This Is England is a humbly, if insistently political, autobiographical homage to that lost world of youth as well as a lament for its hopes, pleasures and passionate camaraderie," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times.

"Yes, this was England, but as [Shane] Meadows's title also states, this is England today," writes Leo Goldsmith at Reverse Shot. "As boldly as the film's title makes a claim for the state of the UK, then and now, it makes an equally strong statement about what is, was, and ought to be English cinema. For even if Shane Meadows's name has eluded the ears of many cineastes on this side of the Atlantic, he has spent the last decade diligently building a body of work that has few contemporary analogs, a handful of terse, regionally specific films with an unmistakably singular voice."

Updated through 8/3.

Anthony Kaufman: "With This is England, Meadows's development continues, both in his social and political insights (the film is a not-so-veiled attack against unneccessary imperialist wars and dunderheaded nationalism) and in his deftness of character and direction of actors (pint-sized powerhouse Thomas Turgoose is a revelation, as is Stephen Graham)."

"When it comes to dramatized recollections of conflicted youth, This is England, Shane Meadows's semi-autobiographical portrait of a British child ideologically misled by skinheads, provides an exemplary model," writes Eric Kohn at the Reeler. "It's a glorious collage of young person moods: loneliness, confusion, revolt and languor."

"The director's affectionate warts-and-all portrait of his milieu and subculture, however, is blistering, cogently capturing how England's early-80s skinhead movement was driven less by blind racial intolerance... than by intense socio-economic tensions," writes Nick Schager at Slant.

But for Jürgen Fauth, "This is England starts out as well-acted and superbly designed mid-eighties time-capsule but degenerates to a formulaic conclusion that cheapens everything that went before."

At Movie City News, Gary Dretzka has a good long talk with Meadows.

Earlier: "This Is England. And Englishness." and "This Is England. In England."

Update, 8/2: "[O]ne of the year's best movies," writes Andrew O'Hehir in a "Blurbathon!" for Salon: "It's one of the simplest and best re-creations of downscale urban England during the gritty post-punk years ever put on screen, and it's both upsetting and very funny."

Update, 8/3: "Drawing parallels both implicit and explicit to today's Britain, Meadows ably follows in the social realist footsteps of Alan Clarke, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh," writes Kevin Crust in the Los Angeles Times. "This Is England packs an emotional thump, building to inevitable tragedy that nevertheless has the impact of a head-butt."

Posted by dwhudson at August 1, 2007 2:58 PM