Dead Mans Shoes is a film directed by Shane Meadows and his lack of neck. It stars Paddy Considine, Toby Kebell And Gary Stretch. As like most of Meadows movies its based in the english midlands as this is where he grew up.
The most noticeable element of the film is that it was all shot on one camera, and has a very "independent" quality to it, adding atmosphere to the storyline of the movie.
The movie dead man's shoes begins extremely mysterious as we see two men walking through a field in Englands Mid-Lands. The camera flicks from this shot to black and white homemovies of children playing. They soon arrive at what appears to be an un-populated rural village.
We soon learn they are Richard (Paddy Considine), an ex-officer from the English army and his much-loved younger brother, Anthony (Toby Kebbell), who is mentaly handicaped . As they move through the village, a series of flashbacks in grainy sepia and black and white begins, gradually revealing what happened some years before to Anthony.
Richard Begins to talk about sin and punishment and how the world is a very unfair place. In a pub, Richard encounters a young drug dealer and they seem to recognise each other. The pusher goes to his associates, a snakey group led by the vicious Sonny (Gary Stretch), to report his arrival. They feel threatened, for good reason. During a drunken, drug-fuelled spree seven years before, they had abused and humiliated Anthony. They are not what a man would call "the worst people in the world", But what they had done will remain in richards mind forever.
At first, The film turns into a mockery of richards predators. Richard ,dressed in a gas mask that gives him the look (so the drug dealer thinks) of an elephant. He gos upstairs,recks their room, paints their hair and faces,steals a large amount of cocaine and flees. After that, things get steadily more violent, escalating towards a climax in which past meets present.
The Acting in the movie is very "real life", as Richard, there's another striking performance by Paddy Considine, who co-scripted the picture with Meadows. After making his feature debut in Meadows's A Room for Romeo Brass, Considine has appeared in Pawel Pawlikowski's The Last Resort, Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People and Jim Sheridan's In America. He's Put himself down as one of the best british actors of today,and although not noticed in many films,You will be sure to see considine in some more in the near future.
Overall dead mans shoes is a brilliant and gripping film focusing on the once culture of british gangs and what they realy will do for drugs and violence. Equipped with considine and a fucking unbelievable performance by Toby kebell it will remain one the of the best films ive seen in a long while. The twists and turns at the end of the movie when Richard confronts the last gang member and extracts all the facts of Anthonys past from him, Is truely epic and altho meadows has no neck, I would give this film 9/10.
Acting: 10/10
Screenplay: 8/10
Cinematography: 9/10
Direction: 10/10
Lack of Neck: 0/10
