“The Selfish Giant”, the fiction debut of filmmaker Clio Barnard (whose documentary “The Arbor” received much acclaim and showed at BNFF 2010) is a powerful and moving fable about friendship, greed and exploitation and likely to be compared with the compassionate drama of Ken Loach at his best.
The film follows 13-year-old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas), who meet Kitten (Sean Gilder), a local scrap dealer – the ‘Selfish Giant’ of the title – and start collecting scrap for him using a horse and cart. Initially Arbor is a favourite of Kitten, who likes his drive, but when Swifty shows a natural gift for horses Kitten starts to favour him. With life getting tougher for Arbor he starts to feel increasingly alienated by Kitten and in a bid to emulate the man he admires he starts to become more and more greedy and exploitative. Soon tension builds between the two teens.
The tough atmosphere of the UK estates is impressively documented by Barnard, with the gentle but ominous hum of the electricity pylons adding a powerful sound effect to sit alongside the nicely shot vistas. The film is gently dramatic and impressively memorable, and confirms Clio Barnard as a talent to watch.
Mark Adams, Screen International / PÖFF
UK 2013
The Selfish Giant
The Selfish Giant
MS12
Genre
Drama
Director
Clio Barnard
Run time
1h 33min
Cast
Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder
Genre
Drama
Director
Clio Barnard
Run time
1h 33min
Cast
Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder
“The Selfish Giant”, the fiction debut of filmmaker Clio Barnard (whose documentary “The Arbor” received much acclaim and showed at BNFF 2010) is a powerful and moving fable about friendship, greed and exploitation and likely to be compared with the compassionate drama of Ken Loach at his best.
The film follows 13-year-old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas), who meet Kitten (Sean Gilder), a local scrap dealer – the ‘Selfish Giant’ of the title – and start collecting scrap for him using a horse and cart. Initially Arbor is a favourite of Kitten, who likes his drive, but when Swifty shows a natural gift for horses Kitten starts to favour him. With life getting tougher for Arbor he starts to feel increasingly alienated by Kitten and in a bid to emulate the man he admires he starts to become more and more greedy and exploitative. Soon tension builds between the two teens.
The tough atmosphere of the UK estates is impressively documented by Barnard, with the gentle but ominous hum of the electricity pylons adding a powerful sound effect to sit alongside the nicely shot vistas. The film is gently dramatic and impressively memorable, and confirms Clio Barnard as a talent to watch.
Mark Adams, Screen International / PÖFF
UK 2013
The film follows 13-year-old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas), who meet Kitten (Sean Gilder), a local scrap dealer – the ‘Selfish Giant’ of the title – and start collecting scrap for him using a horse and cart. Initially Arbor is a favourite of Kitten, who likes his drive, but when Swifty shows a natural gift for horses Kitten starts to favour him. With life getting tougher for Arbor he starts to feel increasingly alienated by Kitten and in a bid to emulate the man he admires he starts to become more and more greedy and exploitative. Soon tension builds between the two teens.
The tough atmosphere of the UK estates is impressively documented by Barnard, with the gentle but ominous hum of the electricity pylons adding a powerful sound effect to sit alongside the nicely shot vistas. The film is gently dramatic and impressively memorable, and confirms Clio Barnard as a talent to watch.
Mark Adams, Screen International / PÖFF
UK 2013
Info
Rating
Under 12 Not Recommended
Production year
2013
Global distributor
-
Local distributor
Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival MTÜ
In cinema
11/18/2013