runamokprods
While not audacious and brave in it's style as Barnard's smashing debut "The Arbor", it explores much of the same territory – poverty in northern England. But this time Barnard uses a more neo-realist bent that recalls the films of Ken Loach, among others. And after two viewings, while I missed the wild rule-breaking she did in her first film, I felt she had made a film of gritty honest and emotional force. The story centers on two young teens (very well played by non-pros). Diminutive Arbor is hyperactive, angry, and so on the edge he can be frightening and simultaneously heartbreaking -- Arbor needs meds just to allow him to be calm enough to function. And there's Swifty, his best friend who is introvert to Arbor's extreme extrovert. Swifty is willing to go along with Arbor's schemes to a point, but he also wants to honor his mother's wish that he get an education, and try to move up and out of poverty. The two begin collecting (and sometimes stealing) scrap metal to sell to a tough local junk metal dealer, Kitten. This is a man who is capable of being almost a father figure one moment, and stomping you into the ground the next. A sort of modern Fagan, using the boys to do his bidding (although, to be fair, the boys come to him). A dark, moody and ultimately deeply disturbing film, that refuses to let us or society off lightly when it comes to kids growing up in the cycle of poverty.
Raven-1969
If being hopelessly poor, having the police constantly at the door, being expelled from school, or experiencing other troubles, weigh on the life of little Arbor, he does not show it. Despite extremely limited resources, Arbor is relentless in his quest to rise above his mean surroundings. In a fable that seems to belong to another era or place, Arbor scrounges for scrap metal and competes with unscrupulous adults for limited and often illicit resources. Arbor is charming and surprisingly capable of navigating in this adult underworld, yet when he pulls his more sensitive friend down with him, things may unravel beyond control. Successful in their debut at Cannes, Director Barnard and her scrappy crew provide a moving and stark portrait of society adept at stripping people of emotion and connection to others, animals, and the larger world. Turn the language captioning on, for even though the film is in English, it is not an English that Americans readily understand.
olastensson13
Repport from Cameron Britain. Or Blair Britain for that matter. Zones with unemployment, drugs and petty-thefts as the only pride. No opportunity to be really good or really evil. It's hopeless.These two lads steals scrap-metal and sells it. Their loyalty towards each other turns olympic, but in a realistic way. But there are other powers which through ignorance destroys that. And without anybody knowing what happened, real evil is there, unexpectedly.People beyond working-class, because there is no working-class anymore. Tremendous acting, since it's a British film. Feel-bad-movie of the year and quite brilliant.
FlashCallahan
Arbor and his best friend Swifty, are excluded from school and are outsiders in their own neighborhood. The two boys meet Kitten, a local scrap dealer, and he amuses them by giving them worthless jobs. Wandering their town with just a horse and a cart, they begin collecting scrap metal for him. Swifty has a natural gift with horses while Arbor emulates Kitten, as he's keen to impress him However, Kitten favours Swifty, leaving Arbor excluded, driving a wedge between the boys. As Arbor becomes increasingly greedy and exploitative, tensions build, leading to a tragic event that transforms them all......From the first few minutes of this being on, you feel instantly transported back to those kitchen sink dramas from the sixties, such as Saturday Night, and Sunday Morning, and The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner.Those films had an air of humour about them, but even though those movies were a pleasure to watch, they had an air of slight despair about them.Which pretty much sums up this movie. The relationship between the two boys is unprecedented, and strong throughout, but every now and again, you breathe a sigh of relief that your not living there life, or in the situation that they are in, and inevitably will be in for the rest of their lives.Its seems a bit snobby to say that, but the makers make the twos life seem so worthless until they meet Kitten, who is just as abhorrent with them as very one else who crosses their paths.The acting is top notch, and the narrative is crisp and fresh, even if it does seem a little too familiar.The ending is crushing and doesn't really leave the viewer with a pleasant feeling, but hey, this is British cinema, and we can take the rough with the smooth.
AD
