This Is England

Directed by Shane Meadows “How economic precarity and national humiliation curdle into hate” could be the subtitle of This Is England, but that makes it sound more schematic than it is. What Shane Meadows has made here is first and foremost one of the most fascinating coming‑of‑age films I’ve ever seen, and only secondarily a political anatomy of how a lonely child becomes raw material for the far right. Coming‑of‑age stories are often simple, no matter how good. A kid …