The Selfish Giant

A story of dependence, damage and desperation, told with grit and grimy frankness. It's also a portrait of friendship born of need and emptiness, on the road to nowhere. The tone of documentary accuracy makes the film even darker.

Much of the movie is hard to bear, yet it never drags, thanks to the momentum that writer and director Clio Barnard finds in the fable, and, above all, to the energy that she unleashes in her young leads, Conner Chapman and Shaun Thomas.

The first great fiction film to be released in 2014, Clio Barnard's second feature, "The Selfish Giant," is breathtakingly assured, ruggedly beautiful, moving and justifiably tragic.