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Another Masterpiece from Shane Meadows (spoilers)

posted 5 years ago by looper007 (1126)
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Another raw to the bone drama that Meadows seems to do better then anyone else in British Cinema/TV. Fantastic performance from underrated Stephen Graham. Also special praise for newcomer Niamh Alger and from another Meadows regular Helen Behan.

It's only 4 episodes long, with 3 running under 50 minutes and the last 1hr 15mins long. It deals with some tough subjects like Alcoholism and sexual abuse (especially Male Rape) and doesn't hold back.The ending might leave few angry as it doesn't give the type of nicely tied up kind of ending most viewers want.

I'm sure it was probably overlooked by a large audience on it's release but it's fantastic piece of TV.

[–] Rocky15 (489) 5 years ago

I thought it was really underwhelming and frankly, quite boring.

Stephen Graham was brilliant as always but I think meadows has fallen in love with his own style, there were signs of this in the This is England series but nothing like this.

I think another of his problems lies with the casting of major characters, the actor playing Craigy was brilliant, but underused and the rest of the cast are basically Meadows’ mates and regulars, but he gives them key roles that require proper actors, he also lets scenes go on way too long and you can almost see the actors trying to think of something else to ad-lib, Graham does this effortlessly but the others struggle, badly.

It’s a shame because Dead Man’s Shoes and This is England were great, but Meadows indulgence in misery for the sake of misery has become tedious now he’s able to indulge himself.