Luckily this blog entry redeems the disgrace of my last one.
Also, the title is not a typo; everyone's in for a surprise!
#7: This Is England
I imagine that after my all too recent admission that I paid money to see Dance Flick (the movie my friend convinced me to see) you might have thought that I have no credibility whatsoever. This film was my redemption, and it appropriately came right after That Movie Which Will Not Be Named to hopefully expunge at least part of the stain on my character.
Because so many of the films I've seen this summer have been swings and misses this was particularly refreshing. Not only was it one of the best movies I've seen this summer but it was one of the most memorable films I've seen in a long time. The movie portrays skinheads in England during the Thatcher regime focusing primarily on the involvement in the movement of a young boy who, in a quest for self-actualization, begins to spend time with the group. Before long he drifts away from the good-spirited skinheads who were a part of the movement to take part in a counterculture and becomes closer with the malicious members of the group who are championing white supremacy. There's a lot more to it, of course, but that's a little context.
I'd heard of this movie a while back but never got around to seeing it until my friend recently suggested we watch it while Netflix had it up online. The film completely blew me away. It did such a good job of portraying the awkwardness and naivete of adolescence through humorous interactions. It presented the tension of the Thatcher regime without addressing it specifically. Most of all, it beautifully depicted the near-tragedy of a boy whose search for identity led him into a crowd spiraling towards self-inflicted disaster. The viewer never gets the sense that the boy is wholly convinced or comfortable with any identity he finds, accurately limning both adolescence and the tenuous veil certain factions of skinheads covered their racism with by calling it nationalism.
I said certain factions because the movie seeks to expound the skinhead movement beyond the usual gut association: skinhead = bad. All but a few of the skinheads in the film are incredibly likeable, accepting, good-natured characters who do not fall into the usual stereotypes. The movie implies that the movement was not necessarily tied to a philosophy as much as it was to a uniting symbol for youth who felt marginalized in a particularly tumultuous atmosphere. The positively-portrayed characters are so well-developed that you find yourself wanting to be in the boys shoes--making a slew of inspiring new friends who genuinely seem to care. Even if that care seems inexplicable, you are swept up by the stratospheric high the boy reaches before his unfortunate fall.
I can't recommend this movie highly enough. A documentary on the skinhead movement in the 80's might have been interesting, but it would not have encapsulated the realistic emotions in the film achieved by director Shane Meadows. The casting was perfect, the script was believable, the scenery always seemed to compliment the mood of the film, and the music--my God, the music--added an invaluable fluourish to an already laudable accomplishment.
Which brings me to my next point...
This Is England Soundtrack
I love a well-made movie soundtrack and THIS is a well-made movie soundtrack. The music from the era that is included is excellent (Come on Eileen and Tainted Love right after each other? Could it be any more perfect?) and it arises so subtly and yet so indispensably during the film--as the characters walk past a stereo, playing in the background of a party, etc. There is also a good sampling of the different genres: pop, new wave, reggae, punk. One band in particular that comes up multiple times on the soundtrack is Toots and the Maytals, whom I had not heard before the film. The soulful reggae/rock sound punctuates the lighthearted moments in the film perfectly but stands alone just as effectively. The song 54-46 Was My Number that plays during the film's opening sequence is especially infectious.
But a chance to finally have a legal version of Come On Eileen as well as a beautiful acoustic cover of the Smith's often overlooked song Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want was not what got me to...nay...FORCED me to pay for shipping for this from the U.K. What performed that feat was a heartbreakingly gorgeous score unlike anything I've ever heard before. There are a few truly beautiful instrumental songs on the CD, but the movements that composer Ludovico Einaudi wrote specifically for the movie are absolutely haunting during the film and equally moving apart from the film. When I researched it and found that the stunning piano composition that comes at the end of the film was included on the soundtrack I absolutely could not pass it up. If you are even a casual fan of instrumental music, the score of this film will break your heart--in a good way.
Interspersed between songs are dialogue clips that are somewhat unnecessary on an already packed album, but they are good representations of the film's versatility. I personally find myself skipping them when I listen to the album in its entirety, but this is really the only complaint I can make about what is one of the finest soundtracks I've heard since The Last Kiss. Excellent song choices and a beautiful score a near-perfect CD make.
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