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

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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?

24 Hour Party People (2002) or, Tony Wilson's Factory

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Steve Coogan's large head and the styles of the European dance set of the latter part of the 20th century make up this poster for Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People

Tony Wilson is a TV-host and a music pioneer in 1970s Manchester, and in the dozen or so years to come he helps punk and rave groups to emerge and break out on his Factory Records.

24 Hour Party People is written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions (2004)), based on the actual Wilson and his record company, and directed by Michael Winterbottom (Butterfly Kiss (1995)).
Steve Coogan (The Look of Love (2013)) is terrific as Wilson, and the film has an original concept, in which Wilson himself comments the story directly to us from time to time, breaking the fourth wall.
24 Hour Party People has some funny episodes, and the title sequence seems designed to induce epileptic seizures. The music, save for that by Joy Division, is unimpressive, and the majority of the musicians around Wilson appear to be faceless losers.

Related post:

Michael Winterbottom: The Killer Inside Me (2010) - Despite minor qualities, Winterbottom's adaptation is a nasty failure

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 2.8 mil. $
= Uncertain 
[24 Hour Party People premiered 13 February (the UK) and runs 117 minutes. Shooting took place in England. The film opened #59 to a 34k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #32 and in 37 theaters (different weeks), grossing 1.1 mil. $ (39.3 % of the total gross). The rest of the film's gross sheet is incomplete; but it only grossed 379k $ (13.5 %) from its apparent 2nd biggest market, production home the UK. It won 1/2 British Independent Spirit award nominations and was shown in competition in Cannes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 3 notches higher than this review. Winterbottom returned with In This World (2002). Coogan returned in 6 TV and video projects before his theatrical return in Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). 24 Hour Party People is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.27/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 24 Hour Party People?

Life During Wartime (2009) - Too little is really going on in Solondz's guilt-themed Happiness sequel

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An adolescent boy with a white tulip against a cloudy sky makes up this strikingly drawn poster for Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime

A history of 3 sisters: One is a successful, conceited writer; the other a confused vegetarian, whose partners off themselves; and the last is a doped mother of three, whose ex-husband is a convicted pedophile.

Life During Wartime is the 6th feature from great New Jerseyite writer/director Todd Solondz (Fear, Anxiety and Depression (1989)). It is another film from him about the forbidden lust, the consequences of it and of guilt.
Guilt, guilt, guilt.
Despite good actors and few, piercing scenes, often of situations that in some way seem 'wrong', Life During Wartime is about fleetingly little, and mostly it's about excessively neurotic Jews with money. Mostly despicable people, objectively seen, (watch the film for yourself, if you don't believe me.) This is one in Solondz's output that you can calmly skip over: Instead watch his much better Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995), Happiness (1998), Storytelling (2001) and Wiener-Dog (2016).

Related post:

Todd Solondz: Wiener-Dog (2016) - Solondz's incisive and funny dog saga dramedy

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 4.5 mil. $
Box office: 791k $
= Box office disaster (returned 0.17 times the cost)
[Life During Wartime premiered 3 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 97 minutes. It is a loose sequel to Solondz's Happiness (1998) with new actors playing the recurring characters. Shooting took place in Puerto Rico and elsewhere from October 2008 - ?. The film opened #43 to a 30k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it spread to 20 cinemas but never attained a higher placement, grossing 281k $ (35.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 194k $ (24.5 %) and France with 159k $ (20.1 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, equal to the rating in this review. The film was nominated for 2 Independent Spirit awards and won 1/3 nominations at the Venice Film Festival (for its screenplay). Solondz returned with Dark Horse (2011). Shirley Henderson (Tale of Tales/Il Racconto dei Racconti (2015)) returned in Meek's Cutoff (2010); Allison Janney (I, Tonya (2017)) in 6 non-theatrical performances before The Help (2011); and Ally Sheedy (Just a Dream (2002)) in Citizen Jane (2009, TV movie) and theatrically in Welcome to the Rileys (2010). Life During Wartime is fresh at 68 % with a 6.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life During Wartime?