Last night I watched a screener of This is England, Shane Meadows’ semi-autobiographical feature about growing up skinhead in Thatcher-era England. Suffice it to say, I was somewhat blown away. I’ll write more after I’ve fully mulled, but because the film opens today at the IFC Center here in New York, I wanted to do a round-up of what a few other critics are saying. The film is currently set to expand to at least 12 additional cities through September.

“Period specificities aside, the film illustrates an aspect of adolescence I’ve rarely seen better explored: how subculture membership can foster a sense of belonging in young people unsuited to the school-sponsored avenues of self-identification, or can get a kid laid who’d otherwise be hopeless.” — Nick Pinkerton, indieWIRE

“It’s a glorious collage of young person moods: loneliness, confusion, revolt and languor. Meadows builds on this endearing formula with an involving interrogation of hate, and a bold willingness to show how a racist mentality can offer outsiders the dangerous illusion of salvation. The spot-on juvenilia alternates between modes of cuteness and terror.” — Eric Kohn, The Reeler

“What a weird and unpleasant land Britain was in the early 1980s…I don’t think that Meadows set out to shoot a state-of-the-nation parable. He set out to explore a contradiction within skinhead culture: the tribal dislike of foreigners, and the diehard allegiance to Jamaican ska music. Yet it’s clear that This is England is much bigger than this irony.” — James Christopher, The Times

“Every time he floats to us, the audience, a sense of Shaun’s brightness, Meadows is heightening the drama and asking the question: how badly are these skinheads going to screw up this kid’s future? How far down the wrong path are they going to take him? And we’re constantly reminded that Shaun is already dealing with the death of his father and trying to compute who this Thatcher person is that everyone keeps trying to tell him is to blame.” — Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

“This Is England is smart, funny, charming and appalling. It again proves that Meadows, already much loved for A Room For Romeo Brass and Dead Man’s Shoes, is one of the truly powerful and unique voices in UK film today, a master of character with an uncanny gift for fusing nostalgia with harsh reality.” — Todd at Twitch