Paddy Considine stars in Meadows' coming of age drama.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8020 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-03-25
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 87 minutes

Video Description

DVD Special Features: Director's Video Diary
Director's Commentary
Trailer

Language: English, Dolby Digital
Subtitles: None
1.85:1 widescreen version

Synopsis
In A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS, two teenage boys, Romeo (Andrew Shrim) and Knocks (Ben Marshall), whose families live in the same housing development in a small town in the Midlands, England, share a unique friendship. Making jokes that nobody else understands, fighting over little things, being brutally honest with each other, the boys' behavior epitomizes eye-rolling teenage smugness. They both have family problems. Knock's dad is a wierdo who completely ignores him. Romeo's dad is an angry brute. However, the boys seem to get along just fine. That is, until a stranger, Morrell (a truly beguiling Paddy Consadine), appears in town and stirs up trouble. He threatens Knocks, then dominates Romeo. He coerces Romeo into setting up dates with his sexy sister, and challenges him to strangely aggressive martial arts matches. Meanwhile, Knocks has undergone a major operation on his bad back, and is bedridden at home. Romeo is lost and confused. Just when it seems that the boys have grown apart for good, a tragedy brings them, their families, and the whole neighborhood together again.
A gray and moody film with a biting narrative, A ROOM FOR ROMEO BRASS features some gorgeous photography, emotional performances, and most of all, a drifty, perfectly assembled sound track.

From the Back Cover
12 year olds Romeo and Gavin live next door to each other. They're the best of mates with a shared sense of humour that helps them survive in a landscape of comic losers and broken dreams. But their friendship is put to the test by a chance encounter. After a stranger saves them from being beaten up, the boys are only too happy to help their new hero and pal in his quest to date Romeo's sister. Little do they realise they are being drawn into a world of dangerous obsession, violence and desperation; a world that threatens to tear the two friends apart. From acclaimed director Shane Meadows 'A Room For Romeo Brass' is a contemporary coming-of-age story that is as funny as it is frightening.

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Customer Reviews

British cinema at its peak .... GIZOID!!!!!
I watched this film having high hopes because I had already watched the fantastic "Dead Mans Shoes" and I was definitely not disappointed.

Shane Meadows is at his directorial best here, and Paddy Considine shows exactly why he is on his way to bigger and better things with his portrayal of the older kid down the street Morrell. He leaves you feeling both pity and hatred for him in equal measures (yet I was still left feeling surprised by his almost evil side near the end.

Other wonderful performances here include those of Gavin (Ben Marshall) and Romeo (Andrew Shim). Surprising grown up, funny and touching performances from a couple of very young actors with a great future ahead of them.

James Higgins and Frank Harper were both worth the price of the DVD alone with their wonderfully contrasting performances as the two lads dads. The both of them manage to make us change our views of the characters by the end of the film.

Finally, I was pleasantly surprised to see a fleeting, yet memorable cameo from Bob Hoskins as Gavins tutor Steven Laws. Though he is barely on the screen he manages to portray a surprising and vivid performance that certainly proved to me that there is more to Bob Hoskins than the stock characters that we are used to from him.

Overall I was extremely pleaded by this film. Though it was by no means as dark as "Dead Mans Shoes" it was every bit as witty and frightening with enough one liners to keep you going forever.

This may be a massive cliche, but I think I can safely say, that Meadows and Considine are the British Scorsese and De Niro. Nuff said.

One beat, two beat, three beat, sugar beet...
This film is wicked from the opening bars of 'Message to Rudy' to the moment the credits roll, touching and well-observed story about two boys, their friendship and their search for a father figure they can aspire to. It's also very funny!
What I loved most about it was the way in which all the characters were ambiguous, your sympathies shift throughout the film from one to the other and no-one is either wholly bad or wholly good. Paddy Considine is fantastic Morell is both frightening and intimidating, but you feel very sorry for him in his lonely social inadequacy.
The master stroke for me was the two boys' dads - brilliantly written and acted. Watch it!

Superb emotional rollercoaster
Shane Meadows follow-up to Twenty Four Seven is one of the best films i have ever seen. At the start it is hilarious in places, which draws you into a particular mood, and then it hits you as it suddenly turns black and bleak when you are least expecting it. It is both funny and disturbing and plays with your emotions to such an extent that you are not sure whether to laugh or hide your eyes in places. An incredibly thought provoking film.