The Selfish Giant
Director: Clio Barnard
Year Released: 2013
Rating: 2.0
Two dirt-poor misfits, brawny horse whisperer Swifty (Shaun Thomas) and ADHD poster child Arbor (Conner Chapman), get kicked out of school for fighting so with their newfound free time they decide to gather and sell scrap metal and wiring for a shady rogue named Kitten (Sean Gilder), who exploits them. While I respect Barnard's approach to low income living and those living on the fringes of society, it's one thing to take such a narrative and show some kind of positive resolution or lesson learned, but here she takes lost individuals in anguish and piles on the anguish - once the inevitable Horrible Accident happens (telegraphed ahead of time), one of the boys is dead and the other becomes an even bigger emotional wreck (at least bad surrogate father Kitten goes to jail). Mood and strong performances by two young actors only take a picture so far.
