Me and Mr. Meadows

Had the pleasure of meeting Shane Meadows (This is England, Dead Mans Shoes) at the Berlinale this year. I went along to a screening of his new film Somers Town which he and some of the cast were attending. The film was commissioned by the Eurostar company who wanted a visual document representing the London area surrounding Kings Cross Station known as Somers Town.

It features Thomas Turgoose (This Is England) and unknown Polish actor Piotr Jagiello in the lead roles. It tells the story of a homeless teenager, Tomo (Turgoose) who befriends a Polish boy, Marek (Jagiello) who lives beside St. Pancreas Station. Marek lives with his father who is working on the stations refurbishment. The boys quickly bond and Tomo invites himself to stay temporarily at Marek's flat. The boys develop a crush on a waitress, Maria in their local cafe and try effortlessly to woo her, which is both comic and sweet. The boys are crushed when they find out Maria has returned suddenly to her home in Paris. They discuss the possibility of visiting Maria and when Marek informs us his father can arrange a ticket for them both a plan is born. The boys venture to the French capital to meet their new love and spend a perfect day together in the Parisian sun.

The film is excellent, with solid performances and a fantastic script from Paul Fraser.The minuscule budget and Eurostars involvement take nothing away from another fine offering from Shane Meadows.

Sound Geezer!

1000 Journals Project

This month I made the effort to go to the Berlin Film Festival or Berlinale as its more widely know. I was only in Berlin for the first four days of the festival and managed to secure tickets for four films, three of which were excellent and one being a stinker of the highest caliber! One of the finer pieces of work I enjoyed there was a documentary called 1000 Journals. A project conceived by graphic designer Someguy who sent one thousand blank journals into the world in hope of reigniting the dormant creativity within us all. Only one was returned completed to him and so began the arduous task of tracking down the remaining 999 elusive journals.

Below are two excerpts from the documentary which will explain in more detail.

After the screening, director Andrea Kreuzhage fielded a few questions from the inquisitive audience, which was a welcome insight into the difficulty involved in tracking down the missing journals. She also mentioned that a DVD release is to be expected so when it is released go and track it down. Personally I thought the concept was more interesting than the actual movie but an excellent piece of documentary film making none the less.