Best of all about A Room for Romeo Brass are the performances from Meadows' young stars. Romeo and Gavin are best mates. And Ben Marshall (as Gavin) and Andrew Shim (Romeo) could be nothing else. When their friendship is threatened, Gavin is distressingly ostracised, a situation further compounded by his convalescence from a serious spine operation.

The catalyst for this crisis in friendship is the much older Morell (an equally excellent Considine). When we first meet him, despite his bizarre adoption of the youngsters as his partners-in-crime, he appears to be just another harmless small-town eccentric that Meadows has such an affinity for. Soon though, it becomes apparent that Morell's social maladjustment runs much deeper, and the film segues from a low-key comedy into something altogether more menacing.

While Meadows is clearly in his element in A Room for Romeo Brass, orchestrating characters and a milieu that he knows and loves well with a light touch and a warm heart, his film is by no means perfect. The acting from some of the more peripheral members of the cast is unconvincing, while the intrusive and inappropriate soundtrack (from Beck to The Specials and back through to Belle & Sebastian) makes you wonder if the director is trying to make up for imperfections in his film. Largely, that it (or he) can't seem to decide what it's actually about. Nevertheless it is still good enough to prove that Shane Meadows is one of the more exciting British talents working today.

Reviewed by Monika Maurer