England Is Mine Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

England Is Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

Keeping up with The Smiths.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 27, 2017

What would “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” be without the sex and drugs part? There may not be a universal answer at hand in England is Mine, a biographical picture supposedly documenting some epochal years in the life of one Steven Patrick Morrissey (Jack Lowden, Dunkirk), one of the seminal figures in the British music scene of the 1980s and beyond. Morrissey's love of and contributions to the contemporary music scene offer that "rock 'n' roll" element, at least if one has a fairly ecumenical opinion on what constitutes "rock", but as is disclosed in England is Mine, he wasn't exactly the type to party hearty with tons of "enhancements" and/or with pulchritudinous babes hanging off of each of his arms. Morrissey has arguably always been a bigger “deal” in the United Kingdom than he’s ever been in the United States, at least when measured by the not always completely indicative metric of chart success, and as such England is Mine may well play better in its titular nation than it does here, where certain aspects of Morrissey’s life aren’t as well known. Because Morrissey is arguably not that much of a "household name" on this side of the pond, the film’s sometimes odd elisions may therefore confuse. Morrissey is presented both as a “given” and as an evolving presence in the film (the tagline "on becoming Morrissey" is appended to the cover of this Blu-ray), something that perhaps gives the screenplay a bit of an unsteady feeling at times, especially for those who haven’t immersed themselves in Morrissey’s often fairly trenchant and self confessional lyrics. The film presents an interesting take on the time honored tradition of the “portrait of the artist as a young man”, all within the context of stifling societal norms and an economy that seems almost willfully designed to keep a music loving youth from realizing his dreams. Not all of the obstacles Morrissey encounters are external ones, though, and the film perhaps does better as a singular portrait of a young man in the throes of debilitating shyness than it does in a more purportedly “universal” guise.

The fact that England is Mine serves as something of an “origin story” perhaps makes the film less of a Morrissey-fest in terms of music and even lyrics than some fans may be expecting. The film is in fact stuffed full of source cues, but since the time frame is set largely before the formation of The Smiths, none of Morrissey’s better known songs are really featured. Instead, the film charts the somewhat peculiar home life of Steven, who shares an abode with his bickering parents and sister. Even his music journalism career is just kind of plopped down in the film without much context or explanation, another of the many “givens” this film posits where it’s assumed the viewer is going to know enough about Morrissey’s life to figure out what’s going on.

Morrissey exhibits an almost pathological aversion to at least some forms of human contact throughout the film, something that probably goes beyond mere “shyness” and which keeps hobbling his attempts to even meet musicians with the supposed purpose of starting a band. His sexuality also seems a bit on the wobbly side, at least as evidenced by an early vignette where he’s walking home with a girl and she admonishes him to try to “act normal” for a few seconds, something that unfortunately doesn’t keep the street toughs from taunting Morrissey. In fact the film seems to suggest Morrissey was something of a babe magnet even if he himself didn’t realize it, or even want that kind of attention.

That said, there’s a certain Nietzschean quality to Morrissey’s psyche, at least as detailed in the film, one where he clearly feels he’s “obviously” superior to the common rabble. This of course only leads to psychological turmoil when he’s forced to make a living at a series of brain deadening jobs, one of the things this film documents in fittingly drudge like fashion. Several real life figures waft in and out of the story, most focally Linder Sterling (Jessica Brown Findlay), another Manchester musician who (in this version, anyway) doesn’t coddle Morrissey and in fact takes him to task for some of his writing as a critic.

The film ultimately seems to suggest that some of Morrissey's psychological issues border on something more serious than "merely" neuroses, an element that tends to make the film something of a downer when it really should be moving toward a celebration of an individual who overcame whatever obstacles (interior or not) to fashion the kind of life he wanted for himself. The film has some kind of odd stylistic flourishes courtesy of director Mark Gill (an Academy Award nominee for his live action short, The Voorman Problem). Near surrealistic touches in clubs are probably indicative of nothing much more than the drug and alcohol fueled ambience of those places, but other interstitial shots of things like swirling water seem to be hinting at symbology that some may find as opaque as some of Morrissey's lyrics.

England Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

England is Mine is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cleopatra Entertainment and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As is discussed in the rather well done supplement featuring cinematographer Nic Knowland, this digitally captured offering has some unusual grading and/or lighting techniques applied, including several scenes that are kind of bathed in what I'd call a sickly yellow miasma (see screenshots 7 and 8 for just two examples of this approach). These aspects, along with quite a few scenes that take place either in dimly lit clubs or Morrissey's own darkened bedroom, tend to keep fine detail from really popping at times, and in fact the yellow scenes in particular look almost like they've been shot in soft focus at times. In other, better, lighting conditions, detail levels improve markedly, and the palette looks fresh and natural. In these moments, fine detail is often excellent, especially in close-ups. There are a couple of minor issues with banding in some of the dark scenes where light sources suddenly intrude, but otherwise there are no major issues to report.

England Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

England is Mine features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, along with an LPCM 2.0 stereo version (the disc defaults to the stereo track). The surround track delivers some nice immersion in the many crowded club scenes, where both music and ambient crowd sounds dot the side and rear channels. The aforementioned (kind of weird) use of water imagery also provides a general spill (no pun intended) of sound throughout the surround channels. Dialogue and the many source cues are all rendered cleanly and clearly with no issues whatsoever.

Note: My disc contains an authoring error where the film defaults to subtitles being on when the feature is first played. I had one instance where they came back on even after being toggled off, but that did not recur when I tried to make it happen again, so I'm not quite sure how to account for this anomaly from a technical standpoint.

England Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Sadly Facts Widely Known (1080p; 8:28) offers some behind the scenes footage.


• Smoke and Mirrors (1080p; 21:54) features cinematographer Nic Knowland and includes some interesting technical information about the shoot.


• Director and Actor Commentary features Mark Gill, co-writer and director, along with lead actor Jack Lowden.


• Image Gallery (1080i; 3:42) features underscore that seems weirdly inspired by Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" (the bass lick is in fact lifted more or less directly from the Hancock tune, and until the melody kicked in, I thought that was what was going to be played).

England Is Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

England is Mine should certainly appeal to Morrissey fans, even if the film documents a time before Morrissey "was" Morrissey (so to speak). The film has some odd narrative elisions and even odder stylistic approaches which may rankle some viewers, but Lowden is quite effective in a role that requires him to be part Übermensch, part nerd. Technical merits (especially audio) are generally strong for those considering a purchase.