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After an unsuccessful career as a petty criminal, during which time he managed to steal little more than a custard tart and a breast pump, Shane Meadows made a decidedly more successful career move in becoming a filmmaker. Like many directors, Meadows started out making short films. He would draft in friends and family as actors and acquired the use of a film company’s editing equipment in return for working for them for free. It is clear that Meadows’ colourful past has shaped his work, which serves as both a celebration of the working class characters he grew up surrounded by, as well as a study of some of the more extreme stories of city life.
One of Meadows’ greatest strengths is his ability to mix comedy with hard-hitting drama. This is prevalent in both This is England and its follow-on TV series This is England ‘86, and even in Dead Man’s Shoes, a far bleaker film which is full of moments of dark humour. Meadows often lulls the audience into a false sense of security with slow paced and seemingly frivolous or light-hearted scenes before changing the tone and tempo almost instantly. This is done most powerfully in the final episode of This is England ‘86, where the carefree scene in which the irrepressibly cheery Woody is waiting at a surprise wedding for his fiancée Lol is contrasted with the incredibly harrowing scene in which she confronts her abusive father.
However, the most powerful of Meadows’ scenes aren’t normally as dialogue heavy as that of Lol and her dad. Instead Meadows relies on the power of images and music. In This is England for example, Combo’s racist description of events in jail gradually fades out and is replaced by Ludovico Einaudi’s touching score, which is accompanied by close-ups of the gangs disappointed faces. Similarly in Dead Man’s Shoes the combination of the flashback that reveals Anthony’s fate with Chesnokov’s ‘Let My Prayer Arise’ makes an already heavy scene almost unwatchable.
The success of Meadows’ work owes a lot to his ability to create and cast brilliant characters. His insistence on casting Thomas Turgoose in This is England, paying him £5 to audition and helping to curb his disruptive ways, was a masterstroke. Turgoose had the confidence of an actor well beyond his years, whilst also showing real vulnerability - all of which earned him a role in Meadows’ Somers Town, an altogether gentler film about two young friends. In fact, despite frequently using lesser know actors, Meadows’ casting always seems spot on, while better known actors such as Paddy Considine, Stephen Graham and Joseph Gilgun all give excellent performances.
Meadows’ ability to get the best out of his actors stems largely from his willingness to allow them to improvise. The much mentioned powerful scenes in his films: Paddy Considine’s heartfelt speech in Dead Man’s Shoes; Stephen Graham’s violence at the end of This is England; and Vicky McClure (Lol) and Johnny Harris’ (Lol’s dad) confrontation in This is England ‘86 are all improvised. This makes the emotions in the scenes so much more and believable and consequently all the more compelling.
Whilst Meadows work on short films and side projects is ongoing, his next feature film is expected to be Beware the Devil, a film about an exorcist. This is England’s Vicky McClure also stated in a recent interview with Absolute radio that the cast would be more than willing to return to the project, so a new TV series/film is entirely possible.
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