UK | 2004 | Directed by Shane Meadows
Logline: A soldier returns to a small country town to seek revenge on the local wastrels who amused themselves years earlier by teasing, humiliating, and terrorising his younger mentally handicapped brother.
A deeply sombre and disturbing tale, more resonant than a dozen hack horror movies, yet inhabits its own nightmare realm; a dramatic thriller of controlled rage which inexorably reaches critical mass and finally explodes with a precision that fractures into the abstract.
Shane Meadows is Britain’s Great White Hope, having proved himself with several gritty and powerfully emotive dramas each laced with a unique streak of coal black humour. Dead Man’s Shoes is his darkest film in tone and execution, yet there is humour to be found lurking uncomfortably just below the movie’s surface. Like the best practitioners of cinema comedy, Meadows understands that the most intelligent and resonant comedic edge comes from vividly-etched characterisation and irony, rather than forced gags or throwaway lines of pithy dialogue.
Paddy Considine, who co-wrote the screenplay with Meadows, is revelatory as Richard the ex-military man with one hell of a bone to pick. His brother Anthony (Toby Kebbell) floats around anxious to see what Richard’s true agenda is as he loiters around the townships watering holes observing the wideboy shenanigans; the men who appear absurd, yet dangerous and unstable. But there disparate energy is nothing against the velocity of a troubled trained assassin, a man on a rogue mission.
On what appears to be a very modest budget, Dead Man’s Shoes is both artful and economical in its narrative with its striking, yet fluid unassuming camerawork. A superb cast support Considine’s knockout central performance, but also of note are Kebbell (excellent in Guy Ritchie’s Rocknrolla) and Gary Stretch as the charismatic gang leader Sonny. The soundtrack of mostly modern folk and western songs is another standout, with the addition of some broody electronic stuff from Aphex Twin and Laurent Garnier during a pivotal scene of drug-induced mental disintegration.
All these elements, handled with consummate skill, push the movie into strangely mythical territory etching a concise parable about the violence of the mind, body and soul. Revenge is a savage, unruly beast capable of sudden and extreme violence, leaving emotionally discordant repercussions lingering.
Dead Man’s Shoes, along with his hilarious debut featurette Small Time, are my two favourite Meadows movies. It’s a crying shame Small Time isn’t available on DVD, I’d merrderr for my own copy.
TRAILER:
Wow, this sounds like a must see and I hadn’t heard of it before. I will have to subscriber to your blog so I don’t miss anything. You always pick great movies and your reviews are well written and enjoyable. I like your style Bruno!
Hi Cheryl, the movie got a belated release down under, screening at Dendy cinemas in 2006. Have you seen any of Shane Meadows movies? Twentyfour-Seven, A Room For Romeo Brass, and This is England are all excellent. Thank you for your praise, by all means subscribe away, and spread the word of Bruno Dante!
Saw this for the first time earlier this year … and absolutely loved it. The way Richard torments his ‘victims’ is brilliant.
Kebbell’s definitely got a big future. He was great in RocknRolla.
BTW, the site’s looking good Bruno.
“Ready when you are Sgt Pembry …”
So, I used to manage a used DVD store up until last year. I would always bring home movies that intrigued me, and this is one of them. However, I never got around to watching it. It is still sitting in my “Must watch” pile. I’ll now move it to the top of the pile, and let you know what I think of it.
The only one of those listed that I’ve seen is This is England which was bloody brilliant.
sgt, howdee pardner, cheers for the props!
Natalina, looking forward to your thoughts.
Cheryl, Meadows is clocking up a fine filmography. He’s kind of like a UK Scorsese.
Finally watched this one this morning, Bruno. Wow. Very disturbing but I am so glad I watched it. When I grabbed it I had no idea it was going to be so engaging.
As often happens, (in the U.S. anyway) films that didn’t receive a big theatrical release or a lot of buzz end up getting relegated straight to the bargain bin, which was the case with this one. This led me to wrongly assume that it was going to be just another cheaply done shabby slasher movie. Of course, cheaply done shabby slasher films can be a lot of fun sometimes, which is why I picked this up in the first place, but I did not expect the level of depth the film would have. It was a treat to see Toby Kebbell in another role. He really is a talented actor. Hopefully we see a lot more of him in the future.
I was so pleased that you featured Dead Man’s Shoes here, otherwise I likely would have ended up forgetting that I had it or waiting forever to watch it.
Cheers, mate!
Natalina,
My work is done. Half the reason I’m doing this blog is to broaden people’s cine horizons with movies that are exceptional, but may not be known to many. The movies I review may not always be the easiest to find for a lot of people, but at least I’ve exposed the film’s merits to a few more movie hungry folk. Is this the first Shane Meadows movie you’ve watched? If so, you need to watch A Room for Romeo Brass and This Is England too.
I was really impressed with the weight this one carried too when the pedestrian plot mutated into a savage slice of reality.