Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)

Best movie ever!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

I stuck this one for thirty minutes, until I could take no more.Is it a comedy? No, it's not in the slightest amusing.Drama? Nope.Romance? Definitely no.SciFi? Possibly, the characters don't seem to inhabit any of the planets I'm familiar with.Seriously, this is a terrible effort. Long, meandering shots which lead nowhere. Dreadful people with accents that are incomprehensible. Situations that have absolutely no relevance to whatever plot there may be. Cuts from one venue to another with no indication what connection they have.The cinematography is quite reasonable. That's all, folks.

Shane Meadows is an emerging filmmaker on the global stage. He has a much-ballyhooed film at this year's Tribeca Film Festival (SOMERS TOWN) that I tried to get tickets to, but found that it was quickly sold out. After seeing one of his earlier films – ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS – last Saturday on Reel 13, I'm almost relieved.Meadows has a familiar and talented cast to work with here - faces you've seen and admired including Robert Carlyle (TRAINSPOTTING), Rhys Ifans (NOTTING HILL) and Shirley Henderson (HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS). However, even they can't help the film overcome its rather tired and recycled plot – small-time gangster on the lam returns home to woo back his old flame who has become involved with a third party. It's the kind of love triangle that Howard Hawks did to perfection in HIS GIRL Friday, but ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS never even approaches that level of cleverness or intelligence. Instead, it has the feel of an absurd Mike Leigh film – the same lower class British subjects and vernacular, but with a comic, slapstick-type sensibility that feels more like a bad American sitcom.The accents were often hard to decipher, which has always been a problem for Carlyle, but even for the other actors, the pseudo-cockney slang of the Midlands (a somewhat suburban, albeit lower class area literally in the middle of England) made many scenes difficult to follow. There seemed to be a lot of inside jokes and references that were Greek to me and that I assume would only be amusing to a Brit or those more familiar with the Midlands area. Overall, I think the "Britishness" of the film left myself and, I suspect, many other New York viewers feeling detached and indifferent toward a tone and sense of humor that is foreign to us. Generally speaking, when one watches a film, one wants to get wrapped up in its story and its characters. One wants to be emotionally involved, but unfortunately, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS left me feeling cold.(For more information on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)

If the interviews and commentary-track on the Dead Man's Shoes DVD are anything to go by, even Meadows himself considers this film to be something of a failure; even going so far as to take up semi-retirement until Paddy Considine could talk him into making another film. As a result of Meadows' personal opinion, coupled with the critical notices at the time, I'd avoided the film under the allusion that it was an absolute cinematic disaster; a Brit-flick turkey completely devoid of merit!! As it happens, however, the film isn't all that bad, or at least, not as bad as I'd been led to believe by the director and the critics.The story is simple, with Meadows and co-writer Paul Fraser playfully attempting juxtapose the conventions of the spaghetti western genre with the more traditional style of British storytelling favoured by the likes of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. So, we have the usual western flourishes - the lone desperado riding into town, the fight between the two protagonists over the hand of a fair maiden and the big mid-narrative showdown at the local saloon - appearing alongside the more obvious British concerns like family-ties, shell-suits, day-time talk shows and bingo. The combination of the two forms isn't entirely successful, and it seems that the filmmakers aren't quite committed to the concept 100%, with certain parts of the film simply descending into the style of film-making usually reserved for an ITV social drama. The use of the widescreen "cinema-scope" photography works well, with Meadows lovingly referencing the films of Sergio Leone, most prominently in the scene in which Robert Carlisle's character Jimmy has an altercation with the bumbling Dek - brilliantly played by Rhys Ifans - at the auto-garage where he works. As well as that particular scene, there's also the big climactic face-off between the two characters, which is also perfectly handled by Meadows and his crew; with the director making great use of the frame and plenty of low-angles, whilst a crane shot rising above the houses as one of the characters drives off into the sunset is also a particularly nice touch (though it's a shame Meadows didn't go for close-up shots of the character's eyes, ala A Fistful of Dollars, but perhaps that would have been a little too much?).Comic relief comes courtesy of Ricky Tomlinson and Kathy Burke in supporting roles, with both actors doing their usual trademark shtick to great effect (a scene in which Burke's character accidentally gets hit on the head with a projectile microphone is bound to generate more laughs that you'd probably expect!!). Carlisle and Shirley Henderson are both good in their pivotal roles, though for me it's Ifans who really impresses; managing to make his character likable and believable as he progresses through the film from meek-doormat into someone who is willing to fight for the family he loves. This is the second film I've seen, following Enduring Love in which Ifans hasn't seemed like a complete caricature (sort of like he did in Notting Hill and Human Nature), with both films showing his capacity to switch from sly humour to emotional drama within a single scene and furthering his metamorphosis into one of the UK's greatest actors.Once Upon A Time... is by no means as impressive or inspiring as other films by Meadows, in particular A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, but it's enjoyable enough and charming in its own way, with Meadows and Fraser balancing an interesting story with an imaginative concept and a handful of strong performances.

'Once upon a time in the midlands' is the next instalment from Nottingham director Shane Meadows, indeed it concludes his 'Nottingham trilogy' along with previous efforts 'Twentyfourseven' and 'A Room for Romeo Brass' I am glad to say that it surpassed all my expectations. It's a tale of a loner Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) who by chance manages to see his ex, Shirley (Shirley Henderson) on a television show turning down a proposal from her new boyfriend on national television, this prompts Jimmy to return to Nottingham and try to win her back, along with the Daughter (a brilliant debut from 12 year old Finn Atkins). There's just a few problems for Jimmy on the way, Shirley's wimpy yet loving new bloke Dek (Rhys Ifans), Jimmy's mouthy step sister and her wannabe country singer husband (Kathy Burke and Ricky Tomlinson respectively) not forgetting his shady friends who pursue him down south after he rips them off after a strange robbery goes horribly wrong.All members of the cast shine and its fun to see a 'western' style angle being adopted – the classic tale of a loner coming into town to win back his girl, chased by villains and ready for a final confrontation with the man who his girl is now hooked up with. I hope this film gets the recognition that it deserves.