I loved the early films of Shane Meadows, with their grim but humane portrayals of everyday life. Recently, however, especially with his 'This is England' series for Channel 4, I've felt that his ability to ultimately deliver big emotional set pieces has come to overwhelm his other qualities; and that there's a self-conscious emoting that ends up dominating the work. 'The Virtues' tells the story of a man whose life falls apart, and who heads back to the place he grew up to confront the demons of his past. It's at first a low key story, with lots of believable interactions between people who appear to be in some ways broken, albeit for reasons that we don't entirely understand. For three episodes the story doesn't really go anywhere, before finally everything kicks off in episode four. Almost all of its scenes are individually well done, yet Meadows seems to be trying too hard, and telling us a story in a very uneconomical way. The final conclusion has been signposted far too clearly throughout. Stephen Graham is predictably good in the lead role, but I preferred him in 'Line of Duty', where his role had less of a one-note quality. I would still rush to watch anything new by Meadows; but judged purely as drama 'The Virtues' tells a weighty tale but is crying out for a balancing, lighter touch.
Review of The Virtues
