Boy A
Director: John Crowley
Year Released: 2007
Rating: 2.0
A young adult (Andrew Garfield, good at rubbing his face in anguish) leaves youth prison with a new identity in a new town - he was convicted, along with another boy, of murdering a little girl, and like the villagers in Shelley's Frankenstein many citizens want revenge. Bends over backwards to give its lead a lucky streak - he acquires loyal friends, attains Good Samaritan status in the community, has a loyal mentor in Peter Mullan and a boozy but friendly girlfriend in just a short period of time - only to methodically pull it out from him in act three and (unimaginatively) lead him to suicide: Crowley and his screenwriters apparently don't believe in the possibility for total absolution for wrongdoings via personal reinvention. Garfield shows much promise but Mullan is fantastic - and I wish I saw more of him in the movies (his last prominent role that I can recall was in My Name Is Joe).
