After viewing Somers Town

4. How would you categorise this film in terms of genre? Does it remind you of any other films you have seen?

I would put this film into the category of a Comedy/Drama. This is because as well as providing a few laughs to provide a comedy element, it has a serious plot about two boys who have more in common than they might think. The problems these boys share are true to life of many British boys and girls growing up. Poverty and 'no where else' just to pick two are two common themes that many people in the world today must face which gives me the ammunition I need to also put this film in a drama based catagory


5. What do you think is the film's appeal for audiences?

I think the films appeal is all about social realism (A word I nicked off the women who gave a presintation at the start of the Movie). People don't always want to see a glammed up film where everything is happy and the only tradgedy is when a young princess breaks a fingernail. People want to see a film about real people leading real lives, facing real struggles that some can relate to.

I also agree with the famous excue for many types of news Media when I say that people love going to watch something where people struggle so they can feel better about their own little lives.

6. As well as being in black and white, the film is subtitled during the conversations in Polish between Marek and his father; there are also sections in French. In what ways do these factors affect your responses to the film, the situation and the characters?


I think in many ways these subtitles are used for the character's benefit in the sense that they are talking in their own language to kind of show the audience that you cannot take the Polish and the French out of them. I mean we learn they can speak perfectly good English although if they were to speak this all the time it would take away the 'Polish Edge' Marek and his farther has.

I also think the subtitles are used for the audience. For example if they would have opted to do that not quiet English not quiet European it could be very confusing to the audience as they wouldn't be aware of when the characters are trying to speak English and when they are trying to speak Polish.

The final reason I could think of was for authenticity reasons. There are more than enough examples of failed attempts at directors giving foreign characters awful English accents that are just not realistic. Foreign characters with subtitles is much more affective.

7.Shame Meadows' 2006 release, 'This is England', won a number of awards. Research and explore the film's critical reception and suggest what similarities and differences you can identify between 'Somers Town' and 'This is England'.

The film recieved a very good reception with review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 93% of critics gave the film positive reviews. The was also put into several Movie list's top ten films of 2007 reaching an impressive 3rd in Newsweek's.

It was also debated whether it should be a an 18 or a 15 certificate with a majority of film councils opting for 18, although Bristol and Camden were among the few who choose 15 as they believed the film should be seen by a teenage audience that they believed the film was aimed at.

The 15 or 18 certificate debate was probable due to the racist content of the film. Which is probably the main link between Somers town and This is England. Both films are based on the topic of foreign immigrants starting a new life in England although I believe Shane Medows probably created Somers town to show that not all imigrants recieved a warm reception coming into England as seen on This is England. Also I think Shane wants to show in Somers Town perhaps how racism towards immigrants decreased through time as This is England was set in the seventies and Somers town was more modern day.

Another connection between the two is probably how both film's main characters are in very povital areas, and how the young people in the film find their own fun. I think this is impotant as we see the characters of both films doing very practical imaginative things to amuse themselves such as talking and socialising, as well as the drinking element of the film

The final connection I found in the pair is the fact that both were about characters being influenced by lower moral streetwise friends to disobey their parents. In this is England the Fred Perry wearing Mods illistraight several examples of rebellion and without realising drag the main character of the film Shaun into trouble just by him being present during some of the boy's mishaps. The same sort of thing can be seen in Somer's Town with Tomo having a similar influence on Marek who from what I can gather has had a fairly strict upbringing away from getting drunk, a substance Tomo introduces him to.

8. To what extent do you think the audience is expected to be 'comfortable' with this portrait of two teenagers?

This is an interesting question. First of all I don't think that the audience created the characters to make the audience feel comfortable with them. They have have come from very challenging backround that I think this has been done purposely to make the audience feel 'uncomfortable' with the lives that the boys lead.

Most teenagers (especially ones that are still at school like the ones in the film) are still growing up, enjoying the inocence of this age. Instead we see the characters stealing from a laudermat which as well as showing the shear poverty of the characters tells the audience that these young boys of around 15-16 are stealing. Something that alerts the audience as to how these characters (more in particular Tomo) have been brought up and how acts like this have been added to the film to make the audience feel uncomfotable.

The second example I could think of that I believe has been used as a technique to make the audience feel uncomfortable is how Tomo has absolutly nowhere to go. This boy of 15-16 is homeless. A large percentage of people we see in this country that are homeless tend to be so through their own personal problems, however this young boy is in the same possition through no fault of his own. This is shocking toi the audience (Or 'uncomfortable as the sheets put it, great word!)

9. A sign on the estate reads 'children playing on these grounds is prohibited'. In what different ways do Tommo and Marek seek to amuse themselves within this environment? Do you think the film encourages us to judge any of their actions?

I believe the shot we see of this sign has been purposely added for the reason in the question. As we see at several points in the film this sign falls on deaf ears as far as Tomo and Marek goes as we see them loitering outside the grounds on numourous occasions.

We see the boys doing very teenage like things such as loitering and sitting around watching the world go by. It would appear they are growing up in an area that is unfriendly to their age group, probably due to the other inhabitants of the area in their age group, which means that there doesn't appear to be that many facilities in the area for them. Just scene when we see the two of them riding bouncing toys clearly made for todlers!

10. What messages about childhood and adolescence do you, or could you, take away from the film?

I think the film director has gone out of it's way to show the audience the worst possibly situations in tomo's and marek's to grow up in. I therefore think that the messege we can take from this film about adolecscence is to cherish it, because some people have to grown up a lot quicker and miss this important part of their lives (Marek and Tomo although more in particular Tomo)

11. Do your reactions towards the boys change at different points in the film? Which moments in particular:a) encourage you to sympathise with the boys

I would like to select seperate incidents for both boys. The point in the film where I feel most sorry for Tomo has to be in the Cafe where we see him talking to the Scottish women (After he had been beten up which was a close second). We hear Tomo speak of how he has nothing and now he's lost his bag as well, this scene was upsetting probably most because of his age. For a teenage boy to have 'nothing' is hard to believe.

For Marek it has to be when his dad comes home to find him and Tomo 'Boozing it up' in the living room (or just after this point). Although you have to sympathise with Mareks dad I also see the incident as a cry for help from Marek who appears to see very little of his dad who seems more woried about going and getting drunk.

b) make you unsympathetic towards them?

This has to be when they rob the laundrette. Although you could argue from an audience point of view this was very comical (Especially when they got the bag home). From a passerby's point of view in the Movie they are doing nothing to help themselves. Many view them as the dreggs of society and this is an example that to be quiet Frank supports this notion.