Like many others I suspect, I was flipping channels when I caught 'Little Criminals' just a few minutes into it. I am not one to be mesmerised by idle amusements. If I am to be moved, I need to be unwittingly skewered by the art in question. And I don't hesitate to call this art. At the centre of the remarkable heft of this movie is the thing that initially grabbed me by my slacks from the start: the weight of the central child's performance. It's an astounding one. Fifteen seconds of it prevented me from absent mindedly flipping on. It's one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen, and the fact that it is a child delivering it soon leaves one's awareness as can only happen when watching the most truthful of actors.
It's the story of a child being raised in a rough neighbourhood without anyone to turn to for support or solidity, least of all his own mother. Initially the fact that such a menacing figure can come in the shape of an eleven year old catches off guard, but the performance is way more than the immature posturings of a brattish child actor. This one has real depth. As you delve deeper into his circumstances, you watch a broad palette paint a character with real pathos. His gang of lawless friends simply facilitate his escape from the inner demons he attempts to elude, but which he returns to as we all must, both within his soul and symbolically drawn on the wall of his little ritualistically kept hide-away. And as his life begins to spiral ever downwards, one attempts to blame many groups for such tragedy, parents, teachers, social services - but in the end, one knows that sometimes this is just the way life goes, that there are always those who get lost between the cracks.
The supporting cast do the main performance of the 'Des' character justice too, and there's an uncredited cameo by a pre-hype Sandra O which leaves me feeling that of all the low budget flicks struggling actors are forced to remember with irritation, for Sandra this is not one of them. It's sensitively directed and the soundtrack is an edgy alternative lineup with Portishead and Radiohead among others, echoing the troubled vibrations of the lost souls it accompanies.
See this film, it's like a beautiful album song that those who don't look very hard miss, and those who find add to their artistic shrine to themselves.
