The Selfish Giant (2013)

Simply Perfect

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Really hard to start it... Very deep and heartbreaking.It's a realistic British drama showing really detailed the current life of worker class in Bradford - north England, what is still suffering after the 1980's recession and economy collapse. I've never seen any movies putting you up close for such situations just like you can't pay your £20 bill and selling your only furniture. It focuses on the lives of two boys who are both from a large family with awful living conditions. Instead of going to school they prefer to collect scrap metal to help out their family to survive. How ridiculous is it to steal a few kilograms of metal hidden in your jacket from a scrap- dealer isn't it?Absolutely worth to watch, but on a first date. The last ten minutes are really shocking, be prepared for a long never ending catharsis.

One of the commentators has hit the nail on the head when they called this movie depressing. It's ostensibly based on an Oscar Wilde story, although given that the source material is a fairy tale for children, the similarities are so few that you can't really work out the connection.Instead this is a working class tale of petty crime and even pettier characters. The main characters are a couple of tearaway kids who decide to make a living by stealing scrap metal and selling it to the local dealer. The problem with this film is that the entire cast is unsympathetic, and the dialogue is poorly written, substituting expletives for insight.I don't mind low budget films with depressing backdrops - I really enjoyed the Irish tragi-comedy ADAM & PAUL, for example - but this really takes the biscuit, especially when you have no real reason to watch. And that ending is so heavily signposted throughout that it doesn't come as a surprise at all.

A British indie much in the same vein of standout examples like Fish Tank, Tyrannosaur and in many respects This Is England, Clio Barnard's small budget acting driven piece is also much like these films not something to watch if you are in the need of a cheer up, but is an impressively constructed, scripted and acted piece that despite showing it's hand too early, provides a frank, honest and raw look at the lives of childhood friends Arbor and Swifty.To say that Arbor and Swifty are underprivileged would be an understatement, for these children are very much the products of their environment that disallows them to focus on being a child. Arbor played by the often great Conner Chapman is an angry boy, the boy at school that is a ticking time bomb of violence and attitude and a leader to the more mellow and slow Swifty played by the also quite great Shaun Thomas. As a team, Arbor and Swifty are a mismatched pair, Arbor a part of a divorced parent team and Swifty a member of a large "pikey" like family that he clearly feels responsible for, but the two work together gathering scrap and products to try and make a dollar and help support their lives as school goes on the backburner. Arbor and Swifty's plight may seem like a slight journey yet the direction of Barnard is a steady one that leads to many a touching moment.The Selfish Giant is at its core a tale of friendship and a tale of survival in a sad state of affairs for these boys and it's a tale that feels sadly believable. With a great eye for the grimy detail of the world these boys live in (again hearkening back to these other fine U.K films of the similar vein) Barnard captures this life of the boys fantastically from the fog strewn paddocks, the telephone tower laden lands or the rundown housing complexes, the world feels authentic and the characters relatable. The boy's dealings with scrap metal owner and horse enthusiast Kitten also feels real in a place where everyone is looking to rip off everyone and a child doing a man's job is nothing to baulk at.With a pace that is at times awkwardly played out and with a story that sadly ends up exactly how it looks likely to, The Selfish Giant is held back slightly by its own doings but is popped up to a high standing thanks to some great young actors, a heartfelt script and a fine directional turn from the to watch with interest Barnard. Not a movie to bring a smile to your face, but a movie that is another fine showcase for the impressive work many budding British filmmakers are producing that are all types of authentic and true.3 and a half stripped wires out of 5 For more movie reviews and opinions check into - www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com

Painfully truthful social realism at its most painful and fragile form . Fully brilliant and abstract genius. When that little is so much and when that is large so little - what's a few pounds extra in Bradford's poorest and vulnerable areas really worth? Is it worth a few scrape? A few broken bones? Some blood? Someone's life?Last time I saw something like this incredibly vulnerable and genuine was 2011 in Warp X-film Tyrannosaur, also a British film that plague one's mind with soiled hyper-realistic social realism. But regarding genuineness in every single small frame, The Selfish Giant is even better.It hurts a little extra in the chest, a lump is in my throat - oh, this was a movie! I thought I was teleported to Bradford. I'm sold , take my extra pounds, I do not care - you have tortured me enough.The spectacle is so incredible that I do not for a second think of the fictional character that is playing in front of my eyes.What hurts most is that I can not give the movie or the play, or motion pictures, more than a 7/10, that is a little hard, but that's all I can spare when I put the film in context to other movies I rated.