1999 drama Rating: 17/20
Plot: Not really much of one. This is a (sort of) coming-of-age story about James, a kid growing up in Glasgow during a 1970's trash collector strike and finding out that the world is garbage. Struggles with poverty, general human meanness, child fears, and the death of a playmate weigh heavily on the youngster as he wanders around, takes baths, and plays with rats.
Freakin' bleak! As bleak as it gets! Profoundly powerful visually and poetically moving, this trudges along with the disturbing realism of a decaying world until one weird, almost out-of-place scene with a mouse and a balloon. Many breathtaking moments within--the opening shot of a twisting curtain, lots of filth and decay, a final shot of a mirror reflecting the sky. Not an easy movie to watch as it's one of those that is in English but still has to have subtitles (at least this VHS copy I watched had 'em). It's also so relentless in its bleakness. I imagine this is a movie capable of transforming the most optimistic person into a pessimistic one. I did sort of laugh a couple times and immediately couldn't figure out why. This isn't so much a movie that you watch; it's one that is more shoved into your stomach until absorbed. Brutal.
Me, stunned:
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