Pascal Zinken (LazySod) Marek and Tomo. Two kids, stumbling onto each other. Two kids, becoming friends, despite their differences. Two kids, fancying the same young woman.So far for the baseline of this film. What follows is the adventures of the two - passing their days in the big city, surfing sideways from the system. The story is told at a fair speed and there are more than enough events to keep it rolling. It's a typical tragicomedy where there's always a sad smile lurking around the corner, but it's still easy on the emotional mind.Filmed in black and white it's soothing and a true beauty to watch.8 out of 10 stolen moments

Jack Blackburn (blackburnj-1) Shane Meadows' beautiful snapshot of life for two teenagers in North London, "Somers Town", is a million miles away from "This is England" in tone, but has no less class or brilliance about it. Filmed in wonderful black and white, this is a delightful, entertaining and involving piece about youth, culture and friendship.The power of Meadows's film-making is in his characters. Something rings fundamentally true about the people that he brings to the screen, and the writing of Paul Fraser (a long time Meadows-collaborator) is a great help to this film. The dialogue is humorous, moving and insightful, which gets the audience utterly involved in this film. Added to this, the acting is wonderful. Thomas Turgoose, who was spectacular in "This is England", continues to be an impressive and interesting screen presence. He is ably supported, not just by Piotr Jagiello, who plays the Polish teenager Marek, but by the rest of the small, but perfectly formed, ensemble.This film is not just an entertaining and moving piece, but is also a beautiful film with a dash of severity. There is a particularly emotive and thought-provoking scene where the immigrant father and son talk to each other. Britain's debates on immigration often ignore the individuals involved in the issues, and that scene cuts right to an unexplored area of the matter.The beauty of the film is not just in its emotions and characters, but also in its photography. Monochrome is a form of cinematography which lends itself to beauty, but Meadows exploits this magnificently. There is a change to colour during the film which could have been crass but is in fact wonderful. The images are also accompanied by a beautiful series of songs which give the film real character. All of these elements come to fore in a number of dialogue-less sequences.Meadows has created a lovely piece of cinema. Short though it is, that is part of its charm. It is not extraneous or self-indulgent. It is what it is: a simple joy to be delighted in by many.

Ron Plasma Much as I love Shane Meadows, and much as I enjoyed the the naivety of Tommy Turgoose in last year's excellent "This Is England", I'm afraid TT cannot carry a film alone. This was a slight, easily forgotten film. Which is a pity, because I'm sure it was full of good intentions and superb craftsmanship, well beyond the contractual obligations of Eurostar's funding.I'm sorry if the above comment does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for comments is 10 lines of text, but I refuse to pad the comment with junk words which might result in my account being blocked from future submissions. What's Next?Ron (Viewed 25Feb08)

ILLPIRATA Somers Town is endless - in the very literal meaning of the word.The opening minutes of this nicely shot black and white piece, set just north of London's Marylebone Road, are wonderfully atmospheric and you settle into your seat with a sense that you are about to be greatly entertained in some way, such is the deftness of the set-up. The acting is uniformly excellent and you quickly warm to the plight of all the characters. So far so wonderful.But, as any screenplay-writer or script-reader will tell you, the set-up is easy, it's writing a compelling story that's the tough part. Soon the unanswered questions start piling up. What is the lad from Nottingham running from and why is no one after him? Is the Polish lad's 'Dad' really his Dad (this one gets answered eventually) and why isn't he in some kind of school? And then we get to the point at which the film stops. And stop it does because there is no ENDING. Just when the film seems to be changing up a gear and you are suckered into thinking some questions will be answered or resolved, you are left with a casually shot color sequence that would be poor as a mid-film montage but is an absolute stunner of a let-down as a resolution.The film-makers obviously worked so hard on this film. The sets, the wardrobe, the cinematography, the casting, the acting, the editing and much of the direction are all notable for their sharp and sensitive choices but whoever thought this casually tossed off last two minutes of color film was an ending or a resolution? With some thought, and some hard choices made over the keyboard over a couple of nights this could have been a truly remarkable film.What a shame for all concerned.