For a nation that trades in kitchen sink dramas, British cinema seemed appropriately all washed-up by the end of the 1990s  until young West Midlands director Shane Meadows burst out of the traps with the vibrant Twenty Four Seven and A Room For Romeo Brass. And this: one of the bleakest, most eviscerating films to ever come from these shores, in which Parry Considine, in a career-defining role, plays a homecoming squaddie intent on avenging a little brother who suffered at the hands of some small town yokels. The critics (what do they know?) call This Is England Meadows' masterpiece. They're wrong: this is. Brilliantly acted, edited and scored  with an ending that will leave you shattered.