Dead Man’s Shoes is a psychological revenge thriller, co-written
and directed by the toast of the British critical community, Shane Meadows.
Writing with Paul Fraser and Paddy Considine, who also stars, the film focuses
on the return to a small northern town of an ex-soldier who reappears after his
little brother is humiliated by a group of local drug dealers. The film opens
with little back story and reveals itself through the use of grainy, black and
white flashbacks, building a picture of the events which lead up to the current
plot as it progresses in ever more violent and sadistic ways. It saves its
biggest and best reveal until close to the conclusion in a feat of wonderful
storytelling which put a delicious cherry on top of an already appealing
cinematic cake.
Although Shane Meadows is
considered to be one of the brightest talents in UK cinema, I’ve never really found
myself that blown away by his films. I can appreciate his style and especially
the way in which he gets his films made but they’ve never done anything for me.
This changed with Dead Man’s Shoes
and instantly became my favourite film from a director I hadn’t really got
until now. Not only do I think it’s one of Meadows’ best but I’m struggling to
think of a better independent British film from the past decade too.
