Parents' Guide to The Selfish Giant

This drama may have a fairy tale title but it is devastatingly real in its depiction of the hard lives of overlooked pockets of British society. The Selfish Giant finds two young teen boys, Arbor and Swifty, living in the north of England in a community plagued by poverty and violence. Arbor has behavioral issues and the two boys are excluded from school after a fight in which Arbor was protecting his friend. Chapman's performance as Arbor is achingly realistic as a boy trapped both in his community and his frantic mind, lashing out and looking for somewhere to fit in. With violence or the threat of it at every turn, and a lack of opportunity for everyone, there's a hopeless feeling in the air that soaks the film like the thick fog that covers the town in the movie.

Thankfully there's a sprinkling of levity and life in there too. While not as much of a vibrant hang-out movie as Shane Meadows' This is England, there are some lighter moments when the boys begin their adventures. But the gloom pervades, as we watch violent boys become violent men in a hopeless cycle. And it's exhausting, spending time in a world where everyone is hostile and a threat. The performances are excellent across the board but the end result is a reflection of a part of modern Britain that has been left to rot. Director Clio Barnard has delivered a movie that's excellently made but is in the end maybe a bit too suffocating to enjoy.