Being a startup ourselves, it’s great to read about other Australian startups, what they’re up to and how they started. A while back Chris Saad began writing for blognation with an agenda to profile emerging ozzie tech ventures .. but the whole blognation network imploded and that was that.

So it was great to come across Vishal Sharma who looks to have initiated his own coverage of a number of startups. He’s organised this into a 2 week carnival, and roused together some judges (Duncan Reilly, Justin Davies and Ross Dawson) to make comment and pick the top three ventures.

Unfortunately I was too late to the party, so APPLEBOX probably won’t be seen, but if you’re interested it’s worth checking out. Those profiled so far are Scouta, Evaluator, Tinker, Suburb View, Plugger, Smartpath, Global Surfari and Invoice Place - and there’s still a heap to go.

This is England is set in 1983 and centres upon Shaun, (Thomas Turgoose) a quick witted and smart mouthed young boy, struggling with the death of his father.

Lonely and being bullied at school, Shaun feels at odds with the universe until he is befriended by a group of older ‘skinheads’. Shaun has a new sense of belonging with his new mates, as they quickly adopt him as a member of their gang.

They are an exceptionally polite set of teenagers- ironically so, considering their aesthetic, and this is one of many points of understated humour within the film. One scene in particular stands out as an illustration of this – when Shaun’s mother is dismayed to find Shaun has had his head shaved and confronts his new friends/ amateur hairdressers. This is an entirely civil and conciliatory exchange of viewpoints and the punk attitude of rebellion and anarchy is nowhere to be seen.

However, this is not the case with Combo: an older member of the group who has recently been released from prison. He immediately incites division and promotes racial hatred and violence. The shift in tone is dramatic and for the second half of the film, there is a feeling of imminent catastrophe.

What is interesting about this film is that its characters are three dimensional and believable. Stereotypes are not bought into, this film is about real people and real drama. Stephen Graham delivers a riveting and realistic portrayal of Combo, a character who is multi faceted and complex. Young Thomas Turgoose is also definitely one to watch – his performance is flawless and he is captivating throughout.

This is England is a largely autobiographical representation of director Shane Meadow’s youth in the 80s and he has certainly captured the era, most effectively through the cinematography, which captures something of the bleak mood of the time, and also through the use of archive footage at the beginning and end of the film.
This is England is a realistic, insightful, and emotional depiction of life at a certain time in a certain place.

Meadows has skilfully blended intense drama with more light-hearted moments and intelligent humour. This is England is a well made and powerful film.

Rent it. 3.5/5