England Is Mine details the teenage years of the icon we all love or loathe, Morrissey.

Better known as simply ‘Steven’ back then, director Mark Gill paints a vivid picture of a troubled young man, a young man seemingly devoid of social skills or the desire to have anything like a ‘normal’ social life.

Shyness is nice…

Steven is miserably content in the world of solitude that is his bedroom, surrounded by his two passions; music and literature. Only finding meaning in writing, mostly lambasting bands of the time whilst not having the gut to follow his own musical career that he so desires.

Hang the DJ…

Whether you’re a fan of the music of The Smiths and Morrissey or not is irrelevant when it comes to enjoying this biopic. This tale of teenage angst and the feeling of being alone in a world that doesn’t understand you I suspect would strike a chord with the majority of the population.

This Charming Man…

However, the way the character of Steven Patrick Morrissey has been constructed leaves you questioning how a character can be so relatable, so inspirational, yet also so arrogant and quite frankly weird.

The director has done a stellar job of crafting a teen angst anti-hero that inspires with his ‘f**k the mundane, I’m above this’ attitude whilst at the same time alienates with his strange demeanour and depressive aura.

How can you say, I go about things the wrong way?…

Was Morrissey really like this as a teen? Who knows, only the man himself until he decides to take to Facebook to give what predictably may be a less than positive review of the film. However, the entertainment factor is most defiantly there, with subtle Easter eggs hidden for eagle eyed fans of The Smiths, as well as an intriguing character in young Steven.

Overall, a melancholy yet inspirational tale of an outcast that gave a big F-you to the mundaneness of everyday life.

Words by Johnathan Ramsay