England Is Mine (2017)

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  Barneyonmovies

  8 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: Now before I begin this review, I feel that I need to make one thing clear - The Smiths (and much of Morrissey's earlier solo stuff) is sacred to me. I'm not the biggest music-lover in the world, but I listen to The Smiths constantly, so if I'm honest I went into 'England is Mine,' with a great amount of trepedation. Would this film tarnish the mystery of Morrissey's poetic mastery? Would it give false face to these Shakesperean lyrics and detract from the personal experience of listening to the music? Well, I'm very glad to say that thankfully this film definitely doesn't do either of those things as it manages to tread carefully and build a very interpretable character study that shys away from becoming a simple Smiths prequel that falls into the trap of unnecessary explanation. Yes, relative newcomer Mark Gill (not to be confused with producer Mark Gill of the 'Fallen' franchise) brilliantly crafts a film with lots of breathing room that - much like your average Morrissey track - allows you to add your own meaning to everything on display as he uses metaphors and visual cues to represent the struggles of this young man in Manchester, and thankfully distances everything from The Smiths by largely avoiding the topic overall. In doing this he effectively retains the mystery of Morrissey's gift of the gab, and that's also helped enormously by a wonderfully engaging performance from star Jack Lowden who brings Morrissey to life in a similarly interptet-able way that allows you to project your own feeling onto the portrayal. All in all then, this film is undoubtedly close to the very best that it could have been, and the fact it works at all for me is frankly a huge surprise.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: In steering clear of The Smiths themselves, it does arguably lack some drive, but I'm still glad it didn't as the brief moments when Smiths lyrics are checked off feel awfully forced and unwanted.
  VERDICT: A film virtually impossible to get right (especially for me), 'England is Mine,' amazingly manages to build an engaging - and thankfully inconspicuous - character drama that I'm sure will appeal to fans and non-fans alike.

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