From an industrial point of view, the universally accepted "British film" means that 75% of a film must be shot in the UK, regardless of where the capital behind it comes from. According to this standard, "Six Heroes of the Pig" can be said to be an out-and-out "British movie". The story takes place in Sheffield, an industrial city in north-central England. It describes how a group of unemployed workers found a way out of economic difficulties. If this analogy continues, "Summers Town" can also be regarded as a typical British movie. This film was sponsored by Eurostar and was originally intended to be made into a commercial film of about 12 minutes in length. Mids’ free play turned into a 75-minute feature film as it is now. Although some people accused the film of being a “longer version of the Eurostar commercial”, the director Mids insisted on making the film independently. Although the film tells The story of how two children with defects in the family realized their dreams from London to Paris on the "Eurostar", but the director did not put too many shots on the train. On the contrary, the focus of this "commercial film" is Friendship between two frustrated children.
"Somers Town" began with Tomo, a young boy who ran away from Nottingham to London. From the beginning of the film, a suspense was set up. Why did Tomo run away from home? We don’t know. The desire to explore the unknown background attracts us to keep paying attention to the little boy’s every move after arriving in London. Is he a victim of domestic violence? Or do you want to go out and wander around? With the development of the story, the background of his life is still unknown to us, and the more we want to explore the life of such a "problem boy", the more deconstructive appeal of the story itself becomes more and more grasped. Live the audience's heart. When asked about his family, his answer is always "I have no family, no relatives and nothing." From his words, we can roughly guess that he is trying to escape from an unhappy family. Marek comes from a single-parent Polish immigrant family. He lives with his father near the station in the small town of Sommers. Since his father has little time to accompany his son because of his work all day, the introverted Marek focused all his attention on his camera. In the lens. It can be said that although the two children have different personalities, one is curious and the other is perverse, to a certain extent, both children have something in common, that is, the lack of family warmth, so the two became good friends.
Sommers is located in the north of Greater London. Anyone familiar with the geography of English football knows that this area has strong teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. It is also an area where the rich and poor in London is more serious, where the rich gather and a large number of immigrants live. There is a sharp contrast between the districts, coupled with the gradual separation between people in modern material society, people cannot establish long-term trust relationships between people. Instead, they are indifference, selfishness and numbness. Director Sean Mides showed us the weakness of a nation in a small space in his last film "This Is England". This time he has subtly noticed the relationship between people in modern consumer society. This kind of indifference is magnified by the stories experienced by the two little boys. The film was shot on black and white film most of the time. The deliberate absence of this color also restores the fortifications between people in today's society. In the last few minutes, when the two children were helped by Marek's father When I took the Eurostar to France to find their common dream lover, black and white turned into color, and depression turned into a smile. The director's intention is self-explanatory here.
Like the warmth in the faint sorrow of "Day and Night of Tian Shui Wai" directed by Xu Anhua, this film about the day and night of the town of Summers is also like a trickle of water, although it does not have the ups and downs of Hollywood movies. But it’s such a small-cost independent film that touches people with true feelings that really reaches the hearts of the audience and makes people feel warm from time to time.
View more about Somers Town reviews
