Broken - Una vita spezzata

Eloise Laurence, in her motion picture debut, is really terrific as Skunk, aka Emily Cunningham, in this extremely dark British drama. Tim Roth gives his usual very solid performance as Skunk's father Archie, a lawyer who is left to raise Skunk and her brother Jed (Bill Milner) after Archie's wife has run off with an accountant. They're aided by a live-in nanny Kosia, ably portrayed by Zana Marjanovic.

Skunk is an 11 year old girl who must face numerous challenges in addition to the loss of her mother. She's a Type 1 diabetic, who must take daily injections and constantly monitor her blood sugar levels. She also has to contend with a new school and the bullying therein, a crush on her teacher Mr. Kiernan, played by the fine actor Cillian Murphy, as well as a first boyfriend Dillon (George Sargeant) and a first real kiss.

However, even more scary and potentially more dangerous are her neighbors. There's the rageful and violent neighbor Bob Oswald, believably portrayed by Rory Kinnear, who along with his three out of control daughters are causing havoc in the neighborhood. There's also the seriously mentally disturbed Rick (Robert Emms), living across the street with his doting mother and overwhelmed father.

All of these families and characters will eventually come together in brutally stark ways. The film does little to shield the viewer from very bleak and difficult scenes.

Thank goodness for the movie's powerful ending or I may just have felt the whole film was just too depressing and unflinching for me.

All in all, Eloise Laurence's riveting presence on screen was I think the true heart of the film. Most likely this film is not for everyone with its' heavy themes, but with its' very strong ending I was glad I stayed with it.

The film was directed by Rufus Norris, an accomplished stage director but making his film debut here. It was written by Mark O'Rowe (Boy A), based on the novel by Daniel Clay.

From the very beginning of the film, I got hooked by the beautiful cinematography and style, by the choice of characters and the accuracy of the details and by the visual storytelling that reminded me again and again why I fell in love with cinema in the first place.

The subject treated in this movie may not be something new for the viewers but what I am certain of is that director "Ruffus Norris" really has a great vision and an amazing ability to capture the audience's complete attention every single second of the film, allowing the movie to drive them.

You'll definitely enjoy watching this movie and I assure you, it will be quite an experience. Few movies have succeeded in capturing me to the last frame but Broken is one of them, again, a courtesy of the amazing cinema of England.

The movie is based on the concept of causes and consequences that lead to certain actions and results that may be good or bad depending on the situation. It is set in a small neighborhood where the stories of the characters living there intertwine in a beautiful way.

It is a story about the loss of innocence, childhood, unfortunate events and people trying to do "good", and forced to do "bad".

Enough said, this film is definitely a must-watch this year.

This is going to be a very quick review as I do not wish to give anything away. It is a gritty, beautifully made, completely believable gem of a film.

The story could be set in any street in the UK and no doubt most will realise parallels with our own lives. Laughter, sorrow, pain, joy and all the things that make a stunner of a movie.

Brilliant acting through-out and no-doubt we will see these young stars again in the future. Tim Roth is Tim Roth and never lets you down so no news there.

Just go watch it.

Broken (2012)

A high stakes middle class melodrama that gets more and more intense—and improbable —as it goes. Well done stuff, with some disturbing insights into contemporary British suburbia.

Besides all the tense thrills of watching some rivalries between kids and parents in this world, and a couple of love affairs blossom, what is the takeaway? I've been wondering that for two days after watching it. And in a way I think there isn't any "message" or large point here. It's a slice of life kind of approach even though the "slice" here is an unrealistic bit of hyper-drama.

In a way this kind of interwoven tale of ordinary people experiencing extraordinary things (like murder) is a justification in itself. It's a high-drama movie, nothing less. That it is well made and well acted is a bonus. And the fact it manages to touch on issues of intolerance and misunderstanding in our current world is valuable. In all, well done, and well meant.

It also avoids what you might call insight, for lack of a better word. That is, there are all these horrible events (and some lovely ones) and we don't quite know why that are happening, or why not, other than because of circumstance. The underlying psychology, and social fabric, is supplied only sparingly, though it is implied often. What results is still quite dramatic, but why do I feel drained and incomplete by it all?

See this? Yes, absolutely. But knowing its deeper limitations.

'Broken' is an excellent example of just how good British drama films/series can be when they are done right. The film is straight to the point and develops at a good pace with lots of different things going on between the various characters.

There is a lot of characters in this film (3 different families who are all neighbours) and we see how their lives are affected by various going ons. This film really doesn't hold back, some of the scenes and subjects will be uncomfortable for some viewers. I really didn't like the Oswald family but the story really wouldn't have worked without them.

I really liked how parts of this film where done, we would see something happen unexpectedly and then it would flashback to show the build up to it from a different perspective. The story linked together really well. It is very engaging although some parts are unrealistic.

The acting in this film was nothing short of superb from everyone. There was a lot of familiar faces but the star of the show has to be Eloise Laurence who made her acting debut in the lead role as Skunk.

It's a shame this film probably won't get the recognition it deserves due to it being relatively unheard of. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good dram film, you won't be disappointed.

8/10.