Twelve-year-old Georgie lives by herself after her mother passes away, staying just ahead of social services and school with fairly implausible lies. When her biological Dad turns up out of the blue, her life shifts in a new direction.
Lola Campbell is a discovery and her performance alone makes the ticket price worthwhile. Unfortunately, too many other elements are sup-par. I get that it is a fairytale and that the film is attempting to show that working class life does not have to be miserable. But if we are re-inventing representation of the working class, why are they thieves? The Greek chorus of oafish social workers, snobby classmates, and three well-dressed dudes on bikes is cloying. The male teacher, especially, comes across as one-dimensional, with some unfunny comment about grief only taking a morning to get over. In fact, the treatment of grief in general does not convince. Georgie makes mention once of the five stages of grief, but never returns to this theme. Other elements seem tacked on for no narrative reason, such as the West Ham shirt, and Georgie's hearing aid. The one element that does work well is the magic realism notion of Georgie building a tower to Heaven, in a room she keeps locked for herself. Having said that, on-the-nose elements such as a big circle in the ceiling with BREAK written next to it are indicative of overall clumsy scripting. The comedy, too, is fairly flat. I think I smiled once. And the shaky-cam gets annoying.
Yes, it's heartwarming; yes, the father-daughter interaction has fleeting moments of real warmth. But I never really felt any genuine affection for this story, and never really invested in the characters. Too many elements, such as talking spiders, seemed contrived and manipulative.
I will enjoy following Lola Campbell's career. However, with regard to the claims that this film is somehow indicative of a renaissance in British filmmaking, that is nothing more than spin.
Lola Campbell is a discovery and her performance alone makes the ticket price worthwhile. Unfortunately, too many other elements are sup-par. I get that it is a fairytale and that the film is attempting to show that working class life does not have to be miserable. But if we are re-inventing representation of the working class, why are they thieves? The Greek chorus of oafish social workers, snobby classmates, and three well-dressed dudes on bikes is cloying. The male teacher, especially, comes across as one-dimensional, with some unfunny comment about grief only taking a morning to get over. In fact, the treatment of grief in general does not convince. Georgie makes mention once of the five stages of grief, but never returns to this theme. Other elements seem tacked on for no narrative reason, such as the West Ham shirt, and Georgie's hearing aid. The one element that does work well is the magic realism notion of Georgie building a tower to Heaven, in a room she keeps locked for herself. Having said that, on-the-nose elements such as a big circle in the ceiling with BREAK written next to it are indicative of overall clumsy scripting. The comedy, too, is fairly flat. I think I smiled once. And the shaky-cam gets annoying.
Yes, it's heartwarming; yes, the father-daughter interaction has fleeting moments of real warmth. But I never really felt any genuine affection for this story, and never really invested in the characters. Too many elements, such as talking spiders, seemed contrived and manipulative.
I will enjoy following Lola Campbell's career. However, with regard to the claims that this film is somehow indicative of a renaissance in British filmmaking, that is nothing more than spin.