Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002) - Good performances in Meadows' warm Nottingham dramedy

♥♥♥

 

A simple, good-times promising poster for Shane Meadows' Once Upon a Time in the Midlands

 

Dek proposes to his girl Shirley and gets a 'no', - even though he does so on live TV, - and Shirley's ex Jimmy then returns home to Shirley and their daughter. - But Dek is not about to give up so easily.

 

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands is written by Paul Fraser (TwentyFourSeven (1997)) and great English filmmaker, co-writer/director Shane Meadows (Small Time (1996)). The midlands that the title refers to is the East Midlands region of England, as the film is set in Nottingham in that region.

A very English and 1990s kind of ugliness meets the eye in the clothes, hair and locations here in a film with a Quentin Tarantino-inspired western grip that is never really integrally explained in the narrative. The plot pendulates between Shirley's wobbling between partners, and some will undoubtedly lose patience with this going back and forth. 

Still I find the film worthwhile, and it has warmth emanating from the strong performances from Shirley Henderson (Filth (2013)), who is lovely, Robert Carlyle (Eragon (2006)), who is ideal as the ego-driven Jimmy, - the type you might jump in the sack with but likely not form a life with, - and Rhys Ifans (Rancid Aluminum (2000)) as the solid but very uncool Dek. Besides these three Finn Watkins (Eden Lake (2008)) is excellent as young Marlene, and Kathy Burke (The Martins (2001)) and Ricky Tomlinson (Safe As Houses (2000, TV movie)) are fine as a loving couple who have quit having sex. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands also has clownish violence and excessively drawn out end credits.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 1.95 mil. £, approximately 2.5 mil. $

Box office: 544k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.21 times its cost)

[Once Upon a Time in the Midlands premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 104 minutes. Shooting took place in England. The film opened #59 to a 21k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it never attained a higher rank, although it widened to 16 theaters, grossing 172k $ (31.6 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 2nd biggest market, the biggest being the UK with 202k $ (37.1 %). Australia was the 3rd biggest with 86k $ (15.8 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Meadows returned with Dead Man's Shoes (2004). Carlyle returned in Black and White (2002); Henderson in Close Your Eyes (2002); and Ifans in Danny Deckchair (2003). 4.6k+ IMDb users have given Once Upon a Time in the Midlands a 6.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Once Upon a Time in the Midlands?