In some ways A Room For Romeo Brass is quite an unusual film as it doesn't really have much of a story.
Essentially it's a coming-of-age story and is a film that explores the value of friendship. Romeo (Andrew Shim) and Knock Knock (Ben Marshall) are best friends at the start and as the film progresses they slowly begin to drift apart when Morell (Paddy Considine) arrives on the scene. I think the point that Meadows was trying to make here was to show how easily kids can be led astray and also how impressionable kids can be (the idea that they perhaps think it's good to hang out with someone older).
Some other plus points that this film gets is that Meadows does try and look at things from both sides of the fence; Knock Knock's mum and dad are both together and present a relatively stable family home - although the 'father' character does have some issues which Meadows never really explores. On the other side of the fence (literally) we have Romeo's family who consist of a single mum scraping by on very little money and who's doing the best to bring up her two children. All the while she's also trying to keep her ex-husband away from the kids (again we never really learn his failings). What I liked about this aspect of the film is that it felt balanced and by making the two families very different Meadows gives the film a sense of realism - when thinking about it Romeo and Knock Knock are quite different as well. This is one thing that Shane Meadows excels at and once again I'm prepared to take my hat off to him.
Of course the real reason to watch this film is for Paddy Considine's performance. Considine had the difficult task of portraying a character with several layers - clearly he's socially awkward, isn't particularly intelligent, but it's his increasingly unhinged behaviour that makes him truly terrifying. If we stick with his dark side then it's quite clear that he's a control freak, all the scenes with Romeo, the scene with Romeo's father, the date with Romeo's sister, the scene near the end with Knock Knock's dad - these scenes to me were all about Morell trying to control those around him. In the scene with Knock Knock's dad, Morell actually turns round and says 'I can't believe he's actually doing it' which to me just reinforces my point. The last scene with Morell where Romeo's dad intervenes when Morell is attacking Knock Knock's dad was a very good scene as it highlights how weak and cowardly Morell was as a person whilst also demonstrating that Romeo's dad wasn't the bad person that we perhaps initially believed him to be.
I've already mentioned that Considine was amazing, but so was everyone here and all the supporting cast were gritty and believable.
I did have some issues with this picture and the obvious issue is its lack of narrative (which may leave some people lost whilst watching this film). Meadows also doesn't flesh the characters out too well here, but again Considine's performance and character do more than enough to make up for any of its shortcomings.
I enjoyed this film, but it felt a little uneven to me and only felt effective in parts. It's not quite as good as Meadows other films such as Dead Man's Shoes and This Is England. However, it does have some strong characters and a gritty realism about it, but as mentioned Paddy Considine is what really makes this film worthy of your time.
Essentially it's a coming-of-age story and is a film that explores the value of friendship. Romeo (Andrew Shim) and Knock Knock (Ben Marshall) are best friends at the start and as the film progresses they slowly begin to drift apart when Morell (Paddy Considine) arrives on the scene. I think the point that Meadows was trying to make here was to show how easily kids can be led astray and also how impressionable kids can be (the idea that they perhaps think it's good to hang out with someone older).
Some other plus points that this film gets is that Meadows does try and look at things from both sides of the fence; Knock Knock's mum and dad are both together and present a relatively stable family home - although the 'father' character does have some issues which Meadows never really explores. On the other side of the fence (literally) we have Romeo's family who consist of a single mum scraping by on very little money and who's doing the best to bring up her two children. All the while she's also trying to keep her ex-husband away from the kids (again we never really learn his failings). What I liked about this aspect of the film is that it felt balanced and by making the two families very different Meadows gives the film a sense of realism - when thinking about it Romeo and Knock Knock are quite different as well. This is one thing that Shane Meadows excels at and once again I'm prepared to take my hat off to him.
Of course the real reason to watch this film is for Paddy Considine's performance. Considine had the difficult task of portraying a character with several layers - clearly he's socially awkward, isn't particularly intelligent, but it's his increasingly unhinged behaviour that makes him truly terrifying. If we stick with his dark side then it's quite clear that he's a control freak, all the scenes with Romeo, the scene with Romeo's father, the date with Romeo's sister, the scene near the end with Knock Knock's dad - these scenes to me were all about Morell trying to control those around him. In the scene with Knock Knock's dad, Morell actually turns round and says 'I can't believe he's actually doing it' which to me just reinforces my point. The last scene with Morell where Romeo's dad intervenes when Morell is attacking Knock Knock's dad was a very good scene as it highlights how weak and cowardly Morell was as a person whilst also demonstrating that Romeo's dad wasn't the bad person that we perhaps initially believed him to be.
I've already mentioned that Considine was amazing, but so was everyone here and all the supporting cast were gritty and believable.
I did have some issues with this picture and the obvious issue is its lack of narrative (which may leave some people lost whilst watching this film). Meadows also doesn't flesh the characters out too well here, but again Considine's performance and character do more than enough to make up for any of its shortcomings.
I enjoyed this film, but it felt a little uneven to me and only felt effective in parts. It's not quite as good as Meadows other films such as Dead Man's Shoes and This Is England. However, it does have some strong characters and a gritty realism about it, but as mentioned Paddy Considine is what really makes this film worthy of your time.