re:mote voices

Title:Dead Man’s Shoes

Cast: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Emily Aston, Craig Considine

Director: Shane Meadows

God will forgive them.
Let them in to heaven.
...I can’t live with that!

These are the opening words of Dead Man’s Shoes, the screenplay for which is written by Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine. The pair have worked together before, and reprise their roles as director and actor here. Dead Man’s Shoes is a low scaled British thriller, which sees Considine play the dark and menacing Richard – an ex-soldier, returned to the small town he grew up in, the town where he left his brother behind. Anthony is a simple kid, who the local drug dealers have taken advantage of.

The film takes place over a period of 5 days, flashing back to the past. The five days are in colour, and follow the escalation from warnings fired in both directions to the vengeance wreaked against the dealers, as they are steadily picked off. The flash backs are grainy, black and white footage, covering what happened to Anthony, who was responsible and how things got out of hand a degree at a time.

Dead Man’s Shoes is terse and tense, with a surprising level of subtlety. The performances are stuttered and realistic, the reactions of distress and increasing panic amongst the dealers ringing with a certain truth. In addition the attention to detail between the present and the past, and the effective mix of changing hairstyles and the like that make the characters look older, is striking. This role seems to be something of a departure for Considine, the difference the beard and haircut make to his demeanour being an important part of what makes him work so well. As a figure of menace he stands up to all attempts to tell him to back down, and lurking in a boiler suit and gas mask allows him to become an even more challenging figure for his enemies.

There are a variety of threads to Dead Man’s Shoes which allow comparisons to a variety of other material – mention of which might constitute spoilers. Regardless of any comparison, Dead Man’s Shoes stands on its own, mixing a certain reflective level with a real intensity.