Movies about people you've never seen before can be more exciting and enriching than all the other stuff. This one is.

Short, compact, yet rich with satisfaction: this film encompassing some beautiful moments to take with you and treasure. Shot in black & white, this film scores for being simple, yet moving, deep and unique.In a world of blockbusters and 2 hour feature films, this short, simple indie film came as a welcome relief. It was 'bite-sized' if you can attribute that phrase. In other words digestible: it had a pleasantly warming message of friendship and the beauty of human emotions. Therefore perfect to consume on a quiet sunny afternoon.By not being too long, this film does not loose out in being concise, it feels like every short scene is of real value to the story. This creates a pleasant pace and means the audience is kept enticed and captivated. Interwoven in this storyline and despite its brief nature, Meadows is still able to weave in thought-provoking shots and sequences to really underline the nature of social study.Overall it is indeed a little gem, not to be left to gather dust on the shelf. Its one of those movies you could watch on a typical afternoon in the house to give you a satisfying feeling of wholeness.Very impressive: 83/100

I am an American but I like all kinds of film. I only bring this out because I can't as well relate or know all of the little social ques in this film quite as someone from the UK. Regardless I liked it a lot. It wasn't deep. It wasn't complicated. But thats what made it nice and charming. A simple story about two kids who are unlikely friends. They bond over the simple things, like a girl, and become quite close. While the film I would say was a bit idealistic and whimsical that's what made it enjoyable. It truly felt like a small little piece of escapism cinema. A realistic story and characters but just with a nice charm and sweetness you don't see in film too often. This just goes to show a film can be enjoyable without being "real" per se where there's all kinds of suffering and turmoil in addition the joyous times. I recommend this to anyone who just wants a nice one hour uplifting film. Although I do feel they could've made it a bit longer but oh well.

Anais Nin said, "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." A new world is indeed born for two lonely teenagers in Shane Meadows' Somers Town, a spirited 70-minute exploration of the bonds that can arise out of mutual need. Originally intended as a 20-minute promo by railway line Eurostar to publicize their high-speed London to Paris train, the film contains references to high-speed trains but is in no sense an advertisement for anything except good film-making. Written by frequent Meadows collaborator Paul Fraser and shot in high contrast black and white, the film stars Thomas Turgoose, the twelve-year-old Skinhead in This is England as Tomo, a runaway orphan from Nottingham.Tomo comes to London to find something better in life but is beaten and robbed of his money and belongings on his first night away from home. He soon meets Marek (Piotr Jagiello), an introverted Polish teen who lives with his father in one of the flats in Somers Town, a working class area in Northern London. Somers Town is named after the Somers family who owned the land and can boast of such former residents as Charles Dickens, Arthur Rimbaud, and Paul Verlaine. Marek warily agrees to let Tomo stay with him but they are both fearful of being discovered by Marek's father (Ireneusz Czop), a Polish immigrant, who is often known to come home drunk. Shot in and around Phoenix Court, a low rise council property in Purchese Street, their friendship grows as they are put to work by a scheming neighbor Graham (Perry Benson) stacking and sanding lawn chairs.Soon they are pulling off dicey capers, and competing for the affection of Maria (Elisa Lasowski), a lovely French waitress in a local café. One of the film's high points is when the two boys find an abandoned wheelchair and give Maria a ride home, a gesture that prompts her to plant a kiss on each boy's cheek, telling them that she loves them equally. Tomo likes to talk tough but his vulnerability shows through his poses and we can see that underneath there is a good person struggling to emerge. Marek is a photographer who has a gentleness about him and the two personalities seem to complement each other. Supported by an outstanding acoustic soundtrack of songs by Gavin Clarke and Ted Barnes, Meadows captures the grittiness of blue-collar existence but balances it with a light touch that makes the film a thorough delight.One of the funniest sequences is when the two steal a bag of clothes from the Laundromat that turn out to be mostly women's garments which Tomo is forced to wear simply because he doesn't have anything else. When Maria decides to return home to Paris without saying goodbye, the boys plan a train trip to find her and, in a color montage that may be real or imagined, the film explodes into unexpected lyricism. Meadows latest film may not have the clout of Dead Man's Shoes (2004) or This is England (2006) but to call it insubstantial just because it is short is to do it a grave injustice. Somers Town is so natural and the character's growing pains so poignant that you will have a hard time ever getting it out of your head.