'Somers Town' a gritty tale of London life

Drama/Comedy

Cert 12

Shane Meadows’s new film is a companion piece to the superb 'This Is England', crafting another coming of age tale, this time set against the backdrop of the titular area of central London buffered by Euston and King’s Cross mainline railway stations.

Sixteen-year-old runaway Tommo (Thomas Turgoose) arrives in the capital with a bag full of clothes and a little cash to tide him over.

Mugged as he wanders the streets, Tommo resorts to begging for food and shelter from a Scottish passenger (Kate Dickie).

He eventually finds a friend in Polish immigrant Marek (Piotr Jagiello), whose father Marius (Ireneusz Czop) is a labourer on the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras.

Marek agrees to hide Tommo in the cramped flat he shares with his father, and the two boys become unlikely buddies.

Tommo cannot live unseen forever in the apartment, forcing the youngster to make tough choices about his future.

The quality of Meadows’s writing and direction shine through, complimented by crisp cinematography, which captures the energy of that part of London.

Star rating: 4/5.