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A new 4-parter starts tonight. Stephen Graham is in it, and the Observer are saying its the best thing he's ever done. And he's got one serious CV. I don't expect it'll make for comfortable viewing, given the subject matter, but I'm sure it'll be absolutely brilliant!
There was a pretty full on interview with Shane Meadows by Miranda Sawyer in the Guardian a few weeks ago, about his own experiences and his motivation for addressing such sensitive subject matter. Well worth a read before you watch it
For many years I didn't remember it... but it caused me a lifetime of anguish
I really should google “who is .....?”
Shouldn't I 🤷♂️
It looks good but I've watched the first couple of Chernobyl and now I think I just want to watch dragons burning people to death to lighten things up a bit.
The Mrs caught an advert for that and said, "Oh! That looks good."
"Errrr I'm not sure that will be as it seems darling" I said, as she series recorded it.
She's currently working her way with Friends on netflix, after never watching it in the 90s.
Not sure I'll be watching it ..... I actually find it really hard to watch Graham in anything he's in... My back instantly goes up.... I guess Graham are Meadows are really good if Combo has that effect on me ??
jesus, its dusty in here already after reading his interview
ta for PSA binners
graham is excellent, one of the best around right now I think, as is meadows
dead mans shoes was on recently too
Comedy, yeah?
Thanks for the guardian link, lots of truths in that interview.
Will be watching.
[i]dead mans shoes was on recently too[/i]
F4 have shown a bunch of his films in the lead up. Especially for bikebouy 😉
mrmonkfinger - they ran a lot of his films on Film 4 last week. I recorded them all as I've not watched them for years. We watched Dead Man Shoes the other night. Another light, frivolous, feel-good evenings viewing.
I expect The Virtues will be a hard watch even by his usual standards
Looking forward to this. Stevie boy is an awesome actor.
Expect grim though. Apparently, the first ep is akin to a graphic documentary about the mental and physiological ravages of alcohol abuse.
Leave the popcorn flat for this.
I've saved an episode of Ghosts to watch after it 🙂
DezB- perfect antidote for grim telly. It's great isn't it?
Very enjoyable
PJ Harvey soundtrack as well! I'm not sure I can think of a better mix of director, actor and composer.
That interview is a tough old read, have loved Shane's work from Smalltime onwards, 'Are you wearing your suit?', 'Yeh me shellsuit'.
Looking forward to this is probably not the right phrase, but it sounds like a great piece of film making.
I love some of SM work but by no means all. Combi was a horrific character
Will def be giving it a watch after Gore and Titties on catch up.
Thanks for the links, binners.
But yeah, that’s a tough article to get through.
Loving the camerawork.
As for the story, one can certainly see this going from dark to £&*^ing dark.
mr meadows does have the incredible ability to suck any joy out of life ... and remove all Hope. It’s a really grim subject, of which he has personal experience... the programme has stated heavy and it is going to get worse ...
TBH ... i am not too sure I will carry on watching.
So, what's the verdict on last nights edition? I was out at a gig, so didn't see but it's on my Sky box. Not sure whether I'm in the right state of mind to continue with this series...
Morning Dezzy. It wasn't actually as dark as I thought it was going to get. Meadows has done that thing that he does where he breaks it up with just enough flashes of humour to keep it from tipping into relentless bleakness.
Its absolutely brilliant! Stephen Graham really is one of the best actors I've ever seen in anything. I can't imagine how much it must take out of you filming something like this.
Mrs Binners observed that it looks like its not been too tightly scripted as the main characters reactions look so natural. Like a Mike Leigh film. And theres few higher recommendations than that
Superb, cheers. Yeah the "naturalness" is one of the things I love about Meadows stuff.
Oh well, can't be as miserable as Chernobyl and I'm (sort of) enjoying that! 🙂
Well this finished last night, and I wasn't disappointed. Powerful ending, got the tone just right for me, people taking back the power that had been held over them, although in more than one case in a very tragic way. From what I read the ending wasn't scripted, the actors shot a few different takes with what felt natural. Brilliant.
Gawd, yeah. My stomach was in knots from the moment we saw Joe on the bus. Brilliant piece of drama. Shame it was so short.... but then again, new Handmaid's Tale and Killing Eve next week!
Shame it was so short
Episode 2 had a full 30 minutes of Joe travelling from Liverpool to Ireland accompanied by moody music. Absolutely nothing happened during those thirty minutes - apart from the advert break - until he collapsed on his sister's drive. If anything it was self indulgently long and should have been edited down to 3 episodes.
As to last night, I didn't enjoy it. (I know! Shane Meadows and 'enjoy' don't go together.) I found a lot of the improvised dialogue too forced. None of the characters were even vaguely filled out apart from Joe and Dinah. The section with Dinah and the social worker didn't sound right to me - would she really have not spoken to Dinah about the son's drawings etc that the mother burned? The conclusion wasn't an end - Joe wouldn't get closure, to my mind. Give him another week and he'll be in the same state because he can't blame anyone for what happened after Damon dies.
I found a lot of the improvised dialogue too forced
The dinner table bit was pretty bad.
Disappointed that we didn't get to see the youth club quality bits!
I thought Joe's sister was hilarious.
Not sure about the passive revenge on Damon.
Felt a bit short changed overall.
Felt a bit short changed overall.
Same here.
A few weeks ago, friend asked whether to watch it and I said, yes, if you enjoyed This Is England. But I'd now tell him not to bother, tbh.
Dinner table scene (ep2) and youth club "bits" comments (ep3) genuinely funny parts in what was a grim series overall. Not sure I could recommend. Acting was outstanding - thats all I can say really.
.
"I thought Joe’s sister was hilarious" - actress is Niamh Algar and also had a big part in C4 series called "Pure" where she was also excellent.
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Felt a bit short changed overall.
Really? Are you totally insane, or what? Did you miss Joe bursting in or Damon and blowing him away with an RPG before hightailing it in an Aston Martin? OK, dif'rent strokes, an' all that, but WTAF?
Well this finished last night, and I wasn’t disappointed. Powerful ending, got the tone just right for me, people taking back the power that had been held over them, although in more than one case in a very tragic way. From what I read the ending wasn’t scripted, the actors shot a few different takes with what felt natural. Brilliant.
Abserlootely this.
I felt as I usually do when watching Shane Meadows stuff. Just feeling really sad for the characters. Especially Dinah and Craigy. Didn’t want it to end that way for them ☹️