The Selfish Giant

Based loosely on the Oscar Wilde story, THE SELFISH GIANT is set in contemporary Bradford, north England, and focuses on the lives of two boys, both of whom are misfits. Arbor (Conner Chapman) cannot fit in to high school life, and prefers to spend his time collecting scrap metal to help his impoverished family. His friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas) is emotionally softer, but proves brilliant at dealing with the prize horse of local dealer Kitten (Sean Gilder). With its washed-out colors and lengthy shots focusing on a grim post-industrial landscape, Clio Barnard's film looks at life on the margins, where families quite literally have to sell everything in order to survive. Despite their hardships, Arbor and Swifty forge a close friendship - so close, in fact, that we are both shocked and moved when tragedy strikes at the end of the film. THE SELFISH GIANT has strong links to Ken Loach's KES in its portrayal of contemporary working-class culture. The dialog is harsh and uncompromising, while the two central performances are memorable. There are certain rough edges - Gilder's Kitten comes across as rather two-dimensional, while his wife Mary (Lorraine Ashbourne) is almost too good to be true - but the film is definitely worth watching more than once.

In the Giant's garden in Oscar Wilde's children's story The Selfish Giant, it is always winter. Having built a wall to keep children from playing in his garden, there are no longer any peach trees, flowers, or birds, only perpetual hail and snow. Spring has forgotten this garden as it also seems to have forgotten the industrial town of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England, the setting for Clio Barnard's authentic and visceral The Selfish Giant. Nominated for a BAFTA award for Best British Film of 2013, The Selfish Giant is in the tradition of Ken Loach, Shane Meadows and others, films of social realism that show the world there is more to merry old England than Stratford-on-Avon and Westminster Abbey.

Though the film is about economic and social dysfunction, it is not all grim. Even in the metallic gray of the rotting town as captured by cinematographer Mike Eley, scenes of horses grazing in a tranquil field, oblivious to the surrounding train tracks and power lines, add a touch of timeless beauty. The real standout, however, are the remarkably convincing performances of Arbor (Conner Chapman) and Swifty (Shaun Thomas), 13-year-old best friends whose connection is born out of their desperate need for affection. Arbor, a pint-sized, hyperactive, sharp-tongued ADHD sufferer, lives with his mother (Rebecca Manley) and older brother (Elliott Tittensor) who sells his A.D.H.D. medication to pay off his drug debts. His father is nowhere to be seen.

"They sleep on the living room sofas but are better off than Swifty who lives with his eight siblings in a home lacking in the means to support them. Swifty's mother played by Siobhan Finneran, is caring, though she is intimidated by her overbearing husband (Steve Evets) who supports the family by renting furniture from discount stores and selling them for cash at inflated prices." Struggling to keep his aggressive behavior in check, Arbor relies on the heavy-set Swifty, a kinder gentler soul with a love for horses to calm him down. Banned from school as a result of fighting to defend themselves against bullies, the boys use a horse and cart to scavenge scrap metal, pots and pans, as well as copper cabling from telecom, railway, and power utilities.

To earn money to help support their families, they sell the scrap to an exploitative but fatherly local junk dealer (Sean Gilder), incongruously called Kitten but given to bursts of anger. In one of the visual highlights of the film, an illegal harness drag race is run on a major highway with serious money at stake. Recognizing Swifty's way with horses, Kitten offers to let him ride one of his horses in the next race. Feeling his friend drifting away from him, Arbor concocts a potentially lucrative plan to steal or collect electrical power cables, but the adventure leads to unforeseen consequences. Much of the dialogue without subtitles is indecipherable due to the heavy Yorkshire accents, but consists mostly of non-stop swearing anyway.

What does come through loud and clear, however, without the need for subtitles is the closeness of the boys' friendship. Although they have different temperaments, they are connected by a struggle for survival and a drive to preserve whatever joy is left in their childhood. There are definitely economic and political overtones in The Selfish Giant, yet it is not about politics or even selfishness, in spite of the title. It is a film with a human element at its core and we care about the characters as Barnard obviously does as well. According to the director, the film "is about what we have lost…and what we need to value and hold on to." It is also a film about the resilience of two boys determined to avoid becoming objects like the discarded scrap they collect.

Since Shane Meadows hit us with phenomenal This Is England in 2007, there's been a dusty spot on the mantle of gritty kitchen sink dramas that truly capture the modern current of low- class British life. Fish Tank has been the only contender since but it doesn't feel like it has stuck as firmly as England, which then spawned several mini-series that I really should watch. Instead, British film seems to be concerned with crowd-pleasers after the roaring but typical success of The King's Speech. BAFTA nominees for Best British Film have been questionable this year, with big budget or mainstream films such as Gravity, Mandela, Philomena, Rush and Saving Mr. Banks, all with big stars on their shoulders. The only exception in the bunch is Clio Barnad's The Selfish Giant, and is the only one that truly deserves the honour. Now that Steve McQueen has stepped firmly into the limelight with the powerful 12 Years A Slave, I must urge that Barnard is the next under-the-radar British voice that needs to be heard.

Loosely based off Oscar Wilde's short story of the same name, Clio Barnard's vision is comparable to a Ken Loach slice-of-life style but rather than the sloppiness and lack of clarity that style can bring, it's startlingly energetic and tight in its delivery. It immediately engages you with its opening scene of a cathartic pounding of rage under a claustrophobic bed then a sincerely moving image of holding hands, all from angry underprivileged boys. It's a rough world depicted here. Conflict is around every corner without exception. Characters step outside and witness kids chased down the street. The harshest swear words are thrown around without much regard for their consequence. It's intimidating, but our characters embrace it and dive in with both feet. It's a world of scroungers, those that see the resale value in everything and abuse that opportunity. It's a bleak life, but the film executes it in such an honest way that it doesn't feel preachy in the way that this is the limits of quality of life and future in the working- class north. Their immoral tunnel vision is one of necessity rather than choice. It's a cruel situation that the film immerses you without comfort.

While there may be a touch of melodrama with the theme of the mother's concern and the pacing it thrives off of seems unnatural, what makes the film work is that it still feels authentic in its performances and script. It's perfectly reflected in its terrific cinematography. It's rough and raw, but it's well-measured in its framing and characters don't get lost in its saturation. The real revelation is its lead performance, Connor Chapman, who gives a genuine and confident performance for his age. Mature, if not sophisticated, beyond his years to be able to take on a brutish character like this with such fearlessness. At first you feel animosity towards him, then a deep pity burrows deeper and deeper. Then the film utterly shatters your heart with its inevitable Shakespearean tragedy making it an unforgettable experience. Any doubts I had about the films power hinges on those fateful final 15 minutes. It may be bleak, but there's a thin ray of hope bursting through the grey clouds. The Selfish Giant single-handedly puts my faith back in British independent filmmaking. I hope this sparks a new era.

8/10

I have to confess I have a 'soft spot' for realist British drama and any film featuring scrapyards and neglected locations nearly always gets a high rating for me.

Having seen Clio Barnard's previous film 'The Arbor' a couple of years back, I was curious to see her next feature and it's well worth the price of admission. Her style and subject matter here remind me of Andrea Arnold's 'Fish Tank' and also a little of Rufus Norris's dysfunctional family in 'Broken', both of which were high on my score sheet.

The two young leads are outstanding, even if their strong northern accents are sometimes hard to follow for me, a southerner, and the portrayal of exclusion, its consequences and repercussions is handled brilliantly by the film makers as you are immersed in their world for what feels far longer than the 90 minutes running time.

See it and appreciate that British drama is alive and kicking. I look forward to her next project.

The two leads, as unknowns, are superb, as are all the child actors in this.

Of the adults it is clearly led by the performance of the three lead female actors (four: I should include the school receptionist). But this film has such an almost documentary feel about it you can forgive any of the acting that may feel a little strained or unnatural (perhaps because of a lacking in the script?).

There are some wonderfully emotionally funny scenes equally matched by ones of sadness. People often use words such as grim, depressing or bleak. But this is Britain as it is; which is about looking for the humour and humanity beyond the circumstance of living. If you haven't been in Britain, then you might be forgiven, if you live here then maybe you have been sheltered: This is really how life can be; but it is far more a story about a boy's journey to manhood.

As a statement on modern society then it speaks volumes to say that nothing is different now as from when it's 60's counterpart Kes was made, or for that matter in anytime in our history.

But for me it won on all levels for it's such strong sense of humanity, on Arbor's journey of discovery, which was lacking, somewhat, in Kes.