One I haven’t posted about yet, but one of my absolute favourite films of 2023 - Scrapper (dir. Charlotte Regan)
It had me captivated throughout. My heart physically ached in the best way, watching this film. A beautifully sad, beautifully funny, beautifully strong story and you couldn’t find better cast for it.
If you haven’t seen it yet, please do. This one was truly special.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell) lives alone after her mother's death, going to school, stealing bikes with her best mate Ali (Alin Uzun), and fobbing off social services. Her life is disrupted, however, when her father (Harris Dickinson) enters it.
Neat little British drama that deserves wider release. Train station scene sweet, some very funny moments, Campbell an absolute find.
In last year’s Aftersun, the tender relationship between a young father and his daughter was played out against the backdrop of a memorable summer holiday. Swapping sunny Turkey for not-so-sunny East London, Scrapper explores similar themes, but is somehow 10 times as vibrant. Seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl, this is a bouncy and colourful film with a touching story just below the surface.
Our protagonist is Georgie (a stunning debut performance from Lola Campbell), a spirited young girl who steps up to look after herself after her mum passes away. Together with best friend Ali (a scene-stealing Alin Uzin), Georgie steals bikes to sell for parts, and evades social workers who believe she’s in the care of an ‘Uncle Winston Churchill’. However, Georgie’s world is disrupted when her long absent father (Harris Dickinson), mysteriously reappears to look after her.
As you might expect, this doesn’t go down too well, as Georgie gives a cold shoulder to the man who left her and mum high and dry. From writer-director Charlotte Regan, this explores what would happen when two people not so good at expressing their feelings are forced to co-exist. While he never speaks about his reasons for returning from his new life in Ibiza, she keeps her grieving bottled up so the world can’t see it.
Like its main character, this hides a well of emotions behind a bubbly exterior. This isn’t just a typical story where two people realize that, hey, they might be more similar than they originally thought (although there is a bit of that). Instead, it’s punctuated by dreamlike narrative flourishes and moments of magical realism, including a dazzling moment where Georgie and Ali imagine what her father does for a living, or a trippy sequence involving talking spiders. It’s all visually stunning, with a pastel color palette and a striking variety of shots that manages to turn a disused warehouse into a fairytale setting.
Not all of its ideas work - a few whimsical mock interviews involving Georgie’s schoolmates and teachers are amusing to begin with, but don’t really add anything to the plot. But Scrapper is powered by such fun and wacky energy that you’ll barely have time to realize. It helps that the cast is a joy to be around, with chemistry that feels like dynamite - just watch that hilarious scene where Dickinson and Campbell narrate the lives of two complete strangers. Dickinson is brilliant as a wacky dad who Georgie notes is more childlike than she is, with a natural charisma that slowly works away at her defenses. But the standout performer is Campbell, a naturally funny ball of energy who carries the film’s more vulnerable moments on her capable shoulders.
Featuring sparky debuts from Campbell and Regan, Scrapper is an inventive, funny and moving story about love and loss, told with all the exuberance of childhood.
Scrapper (12): Of childhood grief, bike theft and talking spiders.
#onemannsmovies #filmreview of "#Scrapper". A novel and funny look at childhood grief but with an uplifting ending. Out on Friday. 3.5/5.
A One Mann’s Movies review of “Scrapper” (2023).
Seen as a Cineworld ‘Secret Cinema’ event (where you don’t know what the film will be before it starts) “Scrapper” is the debut from writer/director Charlotte Regan. Looking at the feedback from that screening, it is clearly a “marmite” film, with some loving it and some hating it. I found it brilliant in places but frustratingly lacking in…
Having to deal with the death of her mother, 12 year old Georgie has been living alone in her London flat and covering it up but when her father Jason arrives everything is about to change.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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