A Room for Romeo Brass (2000)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

In December 1998 young independent film maker Shane Meadows, soon to turn 26, began filming on this dramatised semi-autobiographical feature. Many years on Meadows is now considered one of the foremost artists of British independent cinema - largely a credit to 'This is England', the project which took so much out of the creator that he felt it necessary to check into a clinic to recuperate prior to it's release. The 2006 film, which was a critical and award winning success, was a development of the themes, characters and style introduced here in 'A Room for Romeo Brass'.Through an endearing prologue starring a bag of chips we are introduced to Romeo (Andrew Shim) and his best friend 'Knocks' (Ben Marshall), two midlands boys on the verge of adolescence, representative of a young Meadows and his co-writer, Paul Fraser. The boys have come through tarnished early years together and they share a bond which grants each the confidence to act older than the children that they are. Confidence verges on cockiness with Knocks and leads the pair into a park scuffle with two older lads. Morell (Paddy Considine), a chance bystander, is drawn into the fold as the hero who defends the young duo and breaks up the fight. Morell is 'overcome with love' when he meets Romeo's sister Ladine (Vicky McClure, who would later play Shim's love interest 'Lol' in the 'This is England' film and series). Learning no lesson from the park episode, Knocks plays a prank to make Morell look the fool in front of Ladine. Morell immediately pursues his love and the audience laughs along as he is branded a 'gizoid' by Ladine. It is not long though before the laughing stops, as Knocks is left alone for just a few moments with Morell's darker side.The gripping layered performance of Morell by Considine makes it difficult to believe that this was the actor's first movie role. A number of collaborations with Meadows followed and undoubtedly inspired his own award winning directorial debut in 2011, the beautifully gritty 'Tyrannosaur'. Considine is one in a cast of hot picks by Meadows. The depth of every individual shines through in a real testament to the actors but also to the script from the master of British characters. The most enjoyable aspect of this film is that you are watching real people in real situations, presented in a way that highlights familiar faults and flaws. Meadows is better than black and white packaging of good and bad. Here a hero quickly becomes a villain and in turn a villain becomes a hero but there is no naive suggestion that these transitions are final. Just as in 'This is England' we learnt that the Combo's behaviour is beyond his control, here we pity Morall, psychologically scarred by frequent beatings from his father and by being left all alone following his later death from illness.The foundations for the later masterpiece are set out: A young male protagonist, a reflection of Meadows' memory, projects a tough guy persona as a defense mechanism formed to overcome the lack of a present father. He falls in with an emotionally damaged substitute father figure and previously strong friendships are pushed to the limits. Disturbing physical violence is witnessed first hand before finishing with a calm bedroom chat with Mum to set us on the right track again. Where 'This is England' has the edge is in the natural development of these elements, the horror factor of the racism theme and the greatly enhanced production quality.

After being a fan of This Is England for many years, I decided to go back and watch Meadows' other films. First up was this, and I would argue that it is almost on par with This Is England. A great, believable story with great actors. I find it more close to heart as it is filmed in suburban England, which is where I grew up which is a theme I experience with his other films too, it is refreshing to have a normal story instead of Hollywood films. The characters, setting and story are all realistic and believable, it is something that any two friends in your street could experience. The only reason why This Is England is slightly better, is because there is a more hard-hitting ending and more interesting characters in that film. But that is totally fine as this is one of Meadows' earlier films with presumably a lower budget. Sure, some of the accents sound comedic but as most of the actors where new to acting in this film, it is very impressive. It feels like a home movie, in a good way and I look forward to watching more of Meadows' work, he is definitely one of the UK's best. A solid 8 out of 10 stars.

I was really looking forward to this one, after thoroughly enjoying Dead man shoes, which was a great film....The movie starts and the intro segments begin to play, introducing the two boys Romeo and Gavin. My first thought was how terrible the actor who played Gavin was (Ben Marshall). He appeared to be unnatural, annoying and generally sounded like he was reading off a script. But i was willing to look past that...A good 25 minutes in and i'm still waiting for something interesting to happen. Morell (Paddy Considine) had been introduced and had appeared to have developed a strange relationship with the boys, and i was left wondering why the boys parents would even let their boys be associated with this strange man, who appeared to be 'not quite the full ticket' in the first place.The scene in the clothes shop where Morell was dressed in a shell suit delivering gifts to Romeo's sister was cringe worthy, and there was no way in hell that his sister would have had anything to do with this weirdo after that performance, which makes the film seem even more unrealistic when she agrees to go on a date with him...The kissing scene was even more far fetched, and this just wouldn't happen in the real world, even if she did feel slightly sorry for him...The film takes a sinister turn shortly after this and provides the first bit of action...My heart skipped a beat when Morell pulls out a knife on Gavin, and it was a quite a random shock. I thought 'ok' this film is going somewhere now...But when Romeo returns from the ice cream truck and finds his 'best' friend crying with his head in his hands, there is no way that romeo would just disregard it the way he did, considering he had been so loyal to him from the start. He would have demanded to know what was wrong and would have been suspicious that Morell had done something...I thought Morell would start terrorising Gavin after this but nothing happened. I guess his revenge was taking Romeo away from him...The film just plods along with minimal action and you are left wondering why Romeo has abandoned his friend so easily and why he is so reluctant to even have anything to do with him. And i was also left wondering why his parents had not wised up to the situation and why they were still letting romeo hang around with Morell.When Morell turns on romeo, after a failed attempt to bed his sister (which nearly resulted in rape), and proceeds to follow him around its obvious how the film will end (Frank Harper saving the day).The scene at the end, where Morell is in Gavin's front garden refusing to leave, and seeking revenge is flawed. Is there no police in this town??? The first thing you would do if there was a psycho waiting outside your house is call the police. Not go out there and confront him yourself.Romeo's dad arrives and gives Morell a minor beating. A very minor beating, considering this man had attempted to rape his daughter, and attack his son, and then stalk him.I was left feeling unsatisfied after that.Although i have not said many good things about this film, i will say that i did enjoy the rare bits of action the movie provided, and the general story line was good. It just had too many flaws for my liking and was slow in parts.The final scene in the garden was horrible, and the magic show was unfunny and yet again quite cringe worthy.This film is good in parts, buts lets face it, its no classic.I'm guessing these high reviews are from die hard Shane Meadows fans, who will appreciate anything he does.5 out of 10 from me.

Shane Meadows bleak and distinctive debut, 'TwentyFour Seven', attracted well-deserved attention for being poetically shot in black and white, and for starring Bob Hoskins. Hoskins reappears in a minor role in his second film, the criminally ignored 'A Room for Romeo Brass', another portrait of life among the poor of Nottingham. This movie is much funnier than its predecessor, with hilarious dialogue complemented by photography that makes both the suburbs and their flat surrounding countryside appear desolate but beautiful, and a haunting (but not overbearing) folk-rock soundtrack, featuring (among others) cult band Sunhouse. But a layer of darkness lies close below the surface. Paddy Considine made his name as weirdo loser Morell, a character the film treats with sympathy even though he is evidently a danger to its child heroes: a welcome contrast to the Hollywood world where oddballs are either really all right (and actually not that odd), or pure evil. But there are also great performances from (among others) as Andrew Shim as Romeo, Vivky McClure as his sister and James Higgins as his friend's useless dad. What really stands out in this super film are the odd, unglorified moments that completely shift one's perception of what is going on; such as the first indications of Morell's manipulativeness; the moment when Romeo, not usually the most adult of teenagers, grows instantaneously into the role of man of the house on the reappearance of his own, unwanted father; and, near the end, when his friend's dad, who until this point has appeared a man of no qualities whatsoever, offers himself as sacrifice in order to protect the boys. The stunning combination of human weakness and courage revealed in that moment is truly profound. Meadows, meanwhile, is truly a genius. Watch this film.