Scrapper

Set and filmed in the greater London area, Lola Campbell is really good as Georgie. She was an accidental product of teenagers and her dad skipped out pretty quickly. Now that she is 12 her mother developed an illness and died. Somehow Georgie managed to stay in their flat, avoiding Social Services by claiming an uncle lived there. An ingenious girl, she would have the guy at the story recite certain phrases that she could play back during phone calls.

She has to really scrap to stay alive, like nicking things to fence so that she could get some money. Mostly living the life of a feral child, with only one friend, a boy named Ali. Then, out of the blue, this 30-yr-old guy with partially bleached hair shows up, jumping over the back wooden fence. He is her dad, coming back from overseas to see what he might be able to do.

The way the movie starts, with unusual scenes and a very shaky camera, we considered abandoning it. But we didn't and the patience paid off. This is a really nice, heartwarming story about two strangers, daughter and dad, learning about each other and finding how each can enrich the others' life. The last 20 or so minutes is definitely worth the patience.

At home, on DVD, from our public library.

I watched this on my BFI subscription and, after a couple of minutes, was wondering if it was going to go anywhere other than the artful cinematogrophy. I'm so glad I kept watching because, very soon afterwards, as soon as Georgie and Ali are introduced to us, and as soon as I heard the first lines of script, it was evident that this was special.

What stands out about it? Well, on the surface, the cinematography, acting, script and, of course, direction, is not only individually outstanding but is also cohesive. In the background, the sound, music, production design are all major factors in making this film so special. The colours are incredible.

The script is clever. It's playfully minimal (is that a thing?) with some choice lines. The range of close and wide shots gives the actors a many possibilities to play with, which they do with aplomb.

It's a film about adversity, loss, trust, and love...maybe in that order too.

This will catch you off guard. Georgie (Lola Campbell) is a good kid dealing with a lot, the loss of her mum, she fends for herself, not always in the best way. She's house proud, misses her mum, deft at picking a lock, in inner city London, she runs a bike racket with her mate Ali (Alin Uzan). All highly illegal of course, but she's instantly likeable. She inhabits a world of slightly hyper real characters. It's gritty and deals with some heavy themes, but there's a lightness to the way this is delivered. Fending for herself, she pulls the wool over everyone's eyes, social services, school and her own. It's full of charm, which is just as well, as it's a big baggy in places early on, but it gets so much spot on that I'll easily forgive it. Grief is hard to portray, but this deals with it beautifully, whilst being genuinely heartwarming. Georgie lives in a West Ham shirt, unbeknownst than it once belonged to Jason (Harris Dickinson), her dad that turns up back on the scene after her mums death, much to Georgie's annoyance. She's wise beyond her years, Jason has his work cut out if he thinks he can just waltz back in. She doesn't trust him, doesn't really trust anyone but Ali, but she'll need to let her guard down if she's going to get on. It's an oddly sweet story. Well put together and acted with humbling honesty. It retains a sense of child like wonder, despite Georgie's persistence that at 12 years old she's got it sorted, she's a scrapper and this is fantastic.

SCRAPPER has so much potential but unfortunately quickly falls apart.

What Worked: The characters were authentic and grounded and the acting was strong. Some of the magical realism was done well. There was heart. The way the characters in Georgie's neighborhood and life are explored is creative, as is the use of color. I also appreciated that even though Georgie had a hearing aid, it was just part of her world and never really spoken about. It just was normalised.

What didn't work: The story was trying too hard to pull at your heartstrings and often took itself too seriously. Not much happens, it's slow and repetitive and the whole story could have been told in a 25 minute short film with the same emotional arc. The emotional investment that is established in the prologue is promising but it then you're living in that same space for what feels like a 2hr film (even though it was 84 minutes it felt like it never ended). The script wasn't tight and some plot points were left unanswered.

Overall it's definitely what you would expect a Sundance film to look and feel like (hence why Sundance is becoming more and more irrelevant and tone deaf).

If you wanna watch a great movie about poor white single-parent family, I much prefer THE FLORIDA PROJECT as it was more restrained in its request for your heartstrings and yet manages to tug at them harder. Watching THE FLORIDA PROJECT I was moved to cry, watching SCRAPPER I kept think wow, they're really wanting me to feel this certain way at this moment in the story, when will this be over?

This film presents a curious case where numerous individual elements seem mismatched and unlikely to blend well, yet, remarkably, they come together to create a cohesive and compelling whole. The synergy of these components remains somewhat of a mystery to me, but there's no denying that the end result is captivating. A significant part of this success can be attributed to the outstanding acting, which brings a level of authenticity and engagement that elevates the entire experience. In essence, despite its seemingly disparate parts, the film manages to work exceptionally well in a way that is both surprising and gratifying.