We saw the pre-release showing of THE KID and we were also treated to a pre-film introduction and an after film Q & A session with the films director NICK MORAN (Director - TELSTAR, Actor - Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, and Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2).
THE KID, is the true story of the despair to riches tale of KEVIN LEWIS who grew up in a violently dysfunctional family on a badly deprived South London council estate, who eventually managed to drag himself out of the quagmire
and up, and out into the sunshine of a decent life for himself
finally getting credit for an internationally acclaimed best-selling inspirational novel "THE KID" based upon his own life story
The director of the movie NICK MORAN, had a close association with Kevin Lewis (who the film is based on) during the making of the film – and this paid great dividends in the directors ability to capture and portray on film the anguish and torment that occurred through Kevin's life and his struggles to barely survive.
After being removed from his own family for his own safety
then moving through a succession of failed placements with Foster parents and care home institutions
Kevin finally finds a decent environment where he starts to prosper
until the untimely death of one of the foster parents that puts him back into a downward spiral of commitments and debts
Kevin then finds a "pseudo-family" in the form of some undesirable characters from the underworld that offer to help him
but in reality they are just using his naivety to exploit him for their own gain
at much cost to himself
in the shape of some very violent "street-fighting" matches
with no rules and no-holds barred ... appearing under the pseudonym of "The Kid"
Against the odds Kevin manages from the very depths of despair, to finally turn his life around for the better
The music for the film is inspiring, along with the casting
the three actors who play Kevin through early childhood – through his school years to his later years are very good (especially the parts played by Augustus Prew and Rupert Friend as the middle and later Kevins).
There are strong support roles played by Edward Fox and Shirley-Anne Field as the "good" foster parents and Bernard Hill as "Uncle David" – but the star of the show without doubt is the casting of Natascha McElhone (Californication, Solaris) – just how they can transform such a beauty into such a ugly, murderous, psychopath of a deranged Mother is something to see
she steals every scene she is in
much akin to Charlize Theron's performance in MONSTER
who knows
perhaps Natascha may well follow a similar (deserved) path down the awards trail
The Director mentioned in the Q&A session that the film was shot on 16mm film – and when this is blown up to full screen size you can sometimes detect a slight graininess with some shots – however I don't think this detracted at all from the ambiance of the film
This isn't meant to be a "pleasant" movie, it is quite hard-hitting (sometimmes literally)
and the violence will not be to all tastes – as it is based on a true story and therefore keeps closely to the narrative of the book
but, I do believe that it is worth seeing
and hopefully you'll get the pay-off of a feel-good factor at the end
THE KID is 111mins long, comes out on general release on FRI 17th Sept 2010, and it should be noted that the film contains some violence that would not be suitable for all ages
