The Selfish Giant

Very much enjoyed this, from a film point of view of course given the dark and saddening tone of the story.

'The Selfish Giant' is a gritty drama involving two kids who get mixed up in the wrong world. At the beginning I was worried it was going to turn into a cliché-filled, overly stereotypical tale of less well-off families. It does in small doses, but feels legitimate for the majority.

Cast-wise it isn't amazing, though it's impossible not to give praise to youngsters Conner Chapman (Arbor) and Shaun Thomas (Swiftly) as they give very respectable performances, especially when taking into account the tricky nature of role and premise. Sean Gilder is good as Kitten, while some of the others are solid enough.

It's both impactful and heartbreaking, especially across the third act. Recommended viewing.

Good and bad. The main kid is an idiot. I have no sympathy for him. The parents are caricatures of useless council estate parents. I hope this movie isn't trying to be a social commentary! In fact a lot of the character decisions in this movie are ridiculous. Example, why does the kid who loves horses, and who sees a dead one next to the live cable, do nothing about the cable? He also warns about the cable yet suffers the fate he does, which by the way was predictable. Everyone is so stupid in this, but that's OK because they're poor. I get it now. Poor people are the type of idiots that cut into live cables. It's also too visually grimy for the sake of it. This is gritty and real... to people living in nice areas who stereotype the poor or want to feel like this movies has a social message. I'm not saying the type of poverty in this movie isn't real, but these characters have no light to the dark.