England is Mine
- Director: Mark Gill
- Writer: Mark Gill; William Thacker
- Producer: Alan Graves; Tom Harberd
CGiii Comment
The problem is...why make an unauthorised bio-pic in the first place? Without the endorsement of the eponymous [should that be, miserable] man himself...factual accuracy becomes a great big gladioli-waving elephant-in-the-room!
Fans of The Smiths will be bitterly disappointed...not a Smiths tune to be heard! Because...this is about Steven pre-Smiths. And, what a dreary young man he was too...no wonder Morrissey didn't endorse...the boy - in the film - is a self-centred, prissy little prick! His depression...Jesus H. Christ...if everyone went into a debilitating downward spiral every time they got rejected for a job, the world would - quite literally - stop spinning.
As for his self-proclaimed genius...and, there are those who do think he was/is/will be...well, we'll take a rain-check on that particular assumption! The film proffers no evidence.
It's not a bad film per se...it's just a film that ends where it ought to have begun...it does help if you are a dedicated follower of the eponymous [non-fictional] one! Ooooh you can hear all that idolatry crashing to the floor...incredulity smeared across the faces of the disciples...when they realise Mr Iscariot is alive and [well] making bio-pics...[according to this version of events] Steven pre-Morrissey was a prick who worked for the inland revenue! What a rebel!!!
Treason! Sacrilege! Slaughter the director! Murder this butcher!
As for the sequel?!? Exits cinema, howling with laughter!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A portrait of Steven Patrick Morrissey and his early life in 1970's Manchester before he went on to become lead singer of seminal 80's band The Smiths.
Cast & Characters
Jessica Brown Findlay as Linder Sterling;
Jodie Comer as Christine;
Jack Lowden as Steven Patrick Morrissey;
Katherine Pearce as Anji Hardie;
Simone Kirby as Elizabeth Morrissey;
Laurie Kynaston as Johnny Marr;
Finney Cassidy as Darren;
Adam Lawrence as Billy Duffy;
Marc Graham as Gordon