Scrapper

One of those low budget, British films that I like to catch has all the ingredients of the genre as we watch an independent 12 year old called Georgie reconnect with her estranged father. Jason who left for a new life in Ibiza.

The film has a little comedy element at times which breaks the mood of the film which can otherwise have become depressing and kitchen sink. However the performance of young actress Lola Campbell as Georgie is a delight.

Despite seemingly wearing the same football shirt throughout the film (joked upon in one scene) she brings this film to life as a 12 year old fighting the demons of her mother's passing and living (somehow) alone surviving by stealing cycles and cycle parts and selling them for whatever money she can earn.

The premise of the film has often been repeated but not in the way this film is handled. Be it the location, the characters and their actions or casting a streetwise kid of the street as Georgie. The screenplay does tug at the heart strings as you would expect as the film goes on. It has a pretty short running-time of only 84 minutes but it is a film I would make the effort to watch.

The director, Charlotte Regan makes her feature debut with this film. I will be looking out for future Regan work for sure.

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.

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.

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.