A Room for Romeo Brass

Taking cues from Ken Loach and Mike Leigh (the latter's Naked, in particular), A Room for Romeo Brass is a marvellously impactful film that looks at the role adults play in the lives of children, and particularly at the fractious trust and authority issues most adult-child relationships must deal with. Paddy Considine is phemonenal, his character's skittish and volatile personality played to perfection. A must-watch.

It goes darker than might be expected from the first 15-20 minutes (but maybe it should have been expected if you know Meadows' later work) and from humor to terror it's utterly compelling. Having said that, the resolution feels a bit pat and simple and I'm not a fan of what it actually says (without spoiling it has to do with whether doing violence of "the right sort" is enough to redeem a character). Nevertheless a very good movie with some excellent acting.

Sure it's a story about two kids coming of age and their personal and family drama, and a decent one on that front with good performances and some meaningful moments that don't go overly dramatic. But there's also Considine's force of nature character who makes the film all about him just like he makes his interactions with the other characters all about him. It's a good and memorable performance, but I'm still not sure if it makes the film better or just unbalances it.

If you had told me while I was watching the first half of this movie that the ending would be an intense denouement that would hit me like a ton of bricks and leaving me reeling and emotionally exhausted I would have thought you were a lunatic.

As per usual with Meadows, this manages to be somehow lighthearted and very heavy at the same time, both tender and unflinching. That said, his films, this one included, to tend to be somewhat lopsided for that very reason but the results are never less than absolutely well-meaning and admirable (even when he leans a bit hard on the over-earnest pop song soundtrack). As far as this type of social realism goes, it's up there with the better Mike Leigh films, and Considine is in top form here.

To say that the world of young mister Bass isn't exactly overpopulated by adult male role models would be somewhat of an understatement. Great performances from especially Andrew Shim and Ben Marshall and Paddy Considines character is put to great use, though his performance here is on the verge of being over the top.

Simultaneously incredibly sweet and incredibly dark -- I loved the relationship between the two boys, as well as Paddy Considine's character. Overall it felt really true-to-life, which is what I enjoyed about it most.

A small slice of real life, it could almost be a storyline from a soap. It is filled with both humour and dark moments.

"Add a breezy indie soundtrack, an offputting bewigged cameo by Meadows in the chippy, and a sense of time and place to rival Gregory's Girl (1980), and you've got a proper treat for lovers of real life."

Paddy Considine is staggering in this. Equally funny as frightening.

The two young actors do a great job. However, I could have done without Paddy Considine's character.

Really well written, really well made.