Once Upon a Time in the Midlands Review

The last film to be released theatrically by Film Four in the UK is "Once Upon A Time In The Midlands," the off-the-wall tale of a group of friends living in Midlands suburbia that starts with a disasterous appearance on a Jerry Springer like TV show (hosted by the 'where is she now?' Vanessa Feltz), and continues with the return of an absentee father & husband (Robert Carlyle) that sparks a series of live changing events.

Writer/director Shane Meadows is one of those critic friendly wonder kids whose previous two low key British movies ("Twenty Four Seven" and "A Room For Romeo Brass") were declared gritty, contemporary masterpieces by those supposedly 'in the know,' but failed to find an audience amongst cinemagoers. With this, his third film, Meadows has refreshingly dropped some of the self-righteous political preaching in favour of selfconscious whimsy (this is after all a modern day western set predominantly in Midlands suburbia) and a host of eccentric characters that become less fantastic and more familiar as the film goes on. Although the film doesn't quite succeed in the difficult act of balancing comedy with drama (it starts as one and ends as the other) it does feature some fine performances, with Kathy Burke as the old-before-her-time matriarch Carol, and Robert Carlyle slipping comfortably back into his "Trainspotting" persona of a small time Scottish villain. But its Rhys Ifans who deserves the most praise. Although still best known for his comic supporting role as the ultimate couch potato in "Notting Hill" this shows he is capable of much, much more, as we see his likeable loser Dek develop from comic victim to compassionate hero. A fitting swansong for Film Four then; an off the wall low budget British movie that might (but probably wont) make some money at the cinema, that's hard to imagine coming from a major studio.