A Room For Romeo Brass

Just before the holidays we had OFTSED in school. I was up half the night prepping and half the morning finessing - they didn’t even come into my class. I should have been relieved. No one likes being observed. But when you’ve done an all-nighter, you at least want to think the hangover was worth it. Fortunately as a school we performed well, which meant we could all retire to the pub, raise a glass to the clipboards and pens and wish them well on their future course: to bring misery to others. Whilst in the pub, I got talking to the film teacher about cinema. We exchanged notes on our favourite films and directors. (A note for aspiring pseuds: if you want to achieve your full license in pseudo-intellectualism, centre your talk on directors, as opposed to actors. Moreover, ensure you call them by their surname alone. For extra points, use the word oeuvre. If you’re feeling really flush, then circumscribe a time period, e.g. ‘Although Allen’s oeuvre is impressive, his best period was from 71-79.’) See: being pretentious is easy when you know how. Anyway, we discussed Shane Meadows’ Dead Man Shoes, a favourite of both of ours. I mentioned how I’d seen a lot of his later work, but not his earlier stuff, in particular A Room For Romeo Brass. 

The next day, the DVD was sitting in my pigeonhole.

A Room For Romeo Brass is the second feature of Shane Meadows. Having seen his later work, it’s interesting to see where his work began and how it’s developed. One of the lovely things about watching Romeo Brass is seeing the big screen debuts of Vicky McClure (Line of Duty and This Is England) and Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum and Pride). Like many good film directors, Meadows has a company of actors that he draws on for different projects, which is important given many of his movies deal with gangs and friendship.

McClure and Considine

The film centres on two children on the cusp of adolescence, Romeo and Gavin. Both boys are good humoured and disdain their fathers. Romeo is estranged from his, owing to his dad’s violent temper. Gavin is distant from his, owing to his dad being a complete wazzock. Although they live next door to one other, the two are classes apart: with Romeo having a knackered van in his back garden, and Gavin a shit pergola at the front of his. The two though are as thick as thieves, assisting the other in their schemes.

One day Gavin is walking home when he’s set upon. Since Gavin has chronic back pain, Romeo jumps to his rescue. The gang soon sees red and soon Romeo’s shirt too. A twenty-something is on the horizon. Gavin calls to him for help. The man Morell rides into the rescue. At this moment he’s the white knight, the Lord Protector and king. Later, he will become Gawain’s Green Knight, the spectre at the feast, an adversary that will test their friendship. Paddy Considine’s portrayal of Morell reminded me of Combo in Meadows’ later work This is England. Being in his twenties, he’s the perfect age to drive a wedge between the young friends. He is old enough to be an adult, but young enough to not be a parent. Both lads can vicariously experience adulthood through him. After all, most twelve year-olds would raise a middle finger to Peter Pan: Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to grow up? Why would you want to stay young and miss out on cigs, drink and sex? In his car, Morell is the elixir that allows them to experience a world without parents and rules.

Meadows.

Considine’s character though is only similar to Combo in spirit, not mind. His brain is stunted, which means he’s the child in adult form. When he tries to woo Romeo’s sister, he’s a teenage Romeo: an idealistic romantic that says things like, “I think I’ve been overcome with love’ – and “I would like to take you to Scarborough Fair.” He simply isn’t mature enough to deal with the fall-out that adult situations bring.

I’m really pleased I saw A Room For Romeo Brass as it documents a fledgling filmmaker in flight. It’s inspiring to see how good Meadows was twenty years ago, but how his themes of friendship, gangs and dysfunction has found true shape in the Indie classics Dead Man Shoes and This Is England. Meadows next work will tackle the care system and feature stablemate Stephen Graham – like his other work, I’m sure it will be great.

A Room For Romeo Brass is available on DVD.