Boy A

BOY A is a film that moves the audience in ways few other films do. Part of this is the subject matter, part the solid drama of the novel by Jonathan Trigell on which Mark O'Rowe based his brilliantly understated screenplay, part the sensitive direction by John Crowley, and in large part is the cast of remarkably fine actors who make this impossibly treacherous story credible.

'Boy A' refers to Eric Wilson (Alfie Owen) who was jailed for a crime with his friend with whom he was associated as a youth. He has been released from prison and under the guidance of his 'parole officer/adviser' Terry (Peter Mullan), the now young adult is renamed Jack Burridge (Andrew Garfield) to protect him from the public who still remember the heinous crime of which he was convicted: Terry warns Jack to tell no one his real identity. Jack is assigned a new family and finds new friends in this strange world outside prison walls, but he is still haunted by the crime that changed his life. How Jack relates to his first female relationship and survives the bigotry of his classmates and city folk and finds a way to hold onto life despite his childhood 'sins' forms the development of this story.

While the entire cast is excellent, Andrew Garfield's performance as the guilt ridden needy Eric/Jack is exemplary. There are many issues this film deals with in addition to the trauma of starting life over after imprisonment, issues that are universal in nature and that probe our psyches for answers that are never easily resolved here. It is a brilliant little film from Canada. Highly recommended. Grady Harp

BOY A also gets RIGHT up in your face...literally. This engrossing film treats you to a wide array of emotions and forces you to come to grips with some very serious and highly complex issues....

How should society handle a murder when its perpetrators are only 11 or 12 years old???

One of my most cherished and appreciated qualities in any film is just how intensely issues and images from the film continue to ricochet around in your brain... and how prolonged that process ends up being! Primarily based on these key factors, BOY A gets a resounding 10 Stars!

What is hardest for me to comprehend, in relation to this film is, that despite having dominated the BAFTA awards not all that many years back and showing an impressive 7.7 IMDb rating, it seems a sure bet that it has found a relatively limited U. S. audience! Soembody please explain that to me..."like I were a six-year-old!"

BOY A is hard to watch without tearing up at some moments...... Yet, I am convinced that Director John Crowley never strived to that end, it is just that the subject matter is such that it provides quite a number of emotional gut punches!

Owing to Andrew Garfield's recent turn as SPIDERMAN, hearing his name probably would not illicit a knee-jerk, "Wow! What a great dramatic actor!" But here, in a role relatively near the beginning of his on screen career, his portrayal of a 24 year old who is rereleased into society after being institutionalized For half of his life is deliciously nuanced and astoundingly impacting!

It's really hard to find anything NOT to like with this British masterpiece!

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

This is a real gift. It's a gift in the times when Hollywood bombing us with an enormous amount of bad movies,and it's a gift of acting, specially the acting of Andrew Garfield. IMHO,the movie absolutely deserved every award and nomination. So,I give nine stars,not because we have another classic, but because it shows to Hollywood how to make a good movie.

P.S.

It is not necessary to write a bible about this movie. To much talking about a plot will make it less interesting for the spectator and that no one wants.

The Christian author Lewis B. Smedes once said that, "to forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." John Crowley's Boy A is a powerfully gripping film about what happens when we fail to forgive ourselves for wrongdoing and give society the opening to move in and assuage our guilt. Jack Burridge (Andrew Garfield) has been released from prison after serving fourteen years for a murder that he helped commit when he was ten years old, but the struggle to recover his life has just begun.

Adapted by Mark O'Rowe from the novel by Jonathan Trigell, the story is a reminder of the notorious 1993 Jamie Bulger case when two ten-year-olds were convicted of murdering Jamie Bulger, aged two, although Trigell says that his inspiration for the book was a friend of his who served prison time as a juvenile and turned into "a lovely lad." In the Bulger case, the British media portrayed the two boys as evil savages, ignoring circumstances that might have compelled them to commit the act. Sadly, Jack's release is also trumpeted in the media with a scare headline about "evil coming of age" and a drawing of how he might look today.

Known at their trial only as Boy A and Boy B, both Jack (whose given name was Eric Wilson) and his friend Phillip (Taylor Doherty) were incarcerated for the brutal murder of a young female classmate, yet the full details of the crime including what may or may not have been Jack's role are never fully explained and the surrounding circumstances revealed only in sporadic flashbacks. We learn that both boys had a childhood of poverty and neglect. Eric had an alcoholic father and a mother stricken with cancer and Philip was sexually abused by an older brother, yet Crowley never uses their circumstances to justify their crime.

The film opens with Jack being assisted by his counselor, his uncle Terry (Peter Mullan), on his release from prison. Terry gives him a present of a pair of "Escape" brand sneakers and helps him to find a new job at a delivery service and obtain living accommodations with Kelly (Siobhan Finneran), a kindly woman who agrees to house him temporarily. As a cover, he tells his new boss and co-worker Chris (Shaun Evans) that he did three stints in prison for stealing cars when he was much younger. Jack makes a positive adjustment at work and falls for office secretary Michelle (Katie Lyons), known affectionately by her mates as 'The White Whale". Their relationship at first is awkward, especially when Jack is given Ecstasy at an office party and lets loose in a wild, spasmodic dance, and later, engages in a violent brawl while coming to the aid of a friend.

Slowly Jack and Michelle find much in common and one of the loveliest scenes in the film is when they snap photos of each others while taking a bath together. As Jack begins to get his life together, he remains fully aware of the need to guard his secret and his anxiety that others will discover it is always evident. All the while, Jack is supported by Terry, and when the boy rescues the victim of a car accident to become a local hero, Terry calls him his "most successful achievement." Things get complicated, however, when Terry's estranged son (James Young) comes to live with him and begins to show resentment about his father's closeness to Jack. Eventually this entanglement will be the trigger for the realization of Jack's (and our) deepest fears.

Boy A is a compassionate and disturbing film that won numerous BAFTA awards for acting, directing, editing, and cinematography, though it started out as a made for TV movie. As Jack, Andrew Garfield turns in a superb performance, allowing his face to reveal his vulnerability and his changing moods to reveal the tightrope on which he is walking. Though the film has moments of pathos, it is not without grace. We cling tenaciously to those moments of transcendence, sensing that they might be fleeting, but knowing that they will never be forgotten.

Lately there have been a lot of movies about real life situations.And most of them were good.But this one definitely jumps out from all the others. First of all,The story is unique.I truly don't think that this kind of story has been used before.It grab your attention from its beginning ti its end.Secondly,while watching this movie I have seen some of the greatest performances lately.Actors aren't well known but I am sure they will become soon if they keep it up like this.At moments I felt as if I were a part of this amazing story,and that is one of the greatest qualities a movie can have. All in all,this is a must see movie.At times it pictures joy,at times it pictures reality,at time it pictures pain but most of the time it pictures human behavior towards someone unusual,someone we aren't used to meeting every day.And finally it shows the great strength from the main character to overcome all the obstacles in his life,he accepts his reality and he learns to deal with it.It pictures human nature. So if you like touching movies,filled with lots of emotions,showing the life as it is,than this is a must see.And trust me - you won't regret it...