Displaying items by tag: Frank Dillane

URCHIN

UK, 2025, 100 minutes, Colour.

Frank Dillane, Harris Dickinson, Okezie Morro.

Directed by Harris Dickinson.

What might we expect from a film with the title, Urchin? The Oxford dictionary suggests a meaning with which we are familiar: a young child who is poorly or raggedly dressed.

But, this is not the case at all. This is an adult story, the film written and directed by up-and-coming acting star, Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness, Scraper, Babygirl). His definition of urchin belies the familiar description in the dictionary since the central character, Mike (a persuasive performance by Frank Dillane of a character that we might not be immediately sympathetic with as we watch him on the screen, let alone encountering him in day by day life) is now in his 20s.

Here are some different descriptions of urchin Googling from the Urban Dictionary: A street person or person of the street. These people usually dwell in cars that aren't theirs, warehouses, squatting holes, gutters, garbage cans, boxes, parks, opium dens, public bathrooms (bus/train station, airport), bushes, soup kitchens, etc.  A person who's an asshole and doesn't seem to get that you don't want to talk to them. Has a tendency of being very annoying. Also dresses very trashy and can be depressive. Annoying low life that people hate and often beat up.

And, this is what Harris Dickinson shows us, the day by day life of Mike, scrounging, past drug habits, encountering a kindly man who wants to get him something to drink, walks along the street offering to help further, then Mike suddenly attacking him, bashing him, stealing his watch and pawning it.

Actually, Mike is not very worldly -wise and fails to remember that everything he did was captured by surveillance cameras. Police, prison, getting out, an attempt to do better, an interview at a restaurant for work as a chef, partly succeeding, supported by the owner, and then failing, impatient, an attack on a customer.

Then a new job, joining a troupe of litter collectors, conversations, success, failures, discussions with those from government and social organisations who want to help –  immediate help but what of the future?

While most of the film is social realism, there are some moments of fantasy, Mike falling through tunnels, rugged cliffs, symbolic of… His isolation, hopelessness, interpretation for the audience in the light of what we see of Mike, the adult urchin.

This is a sombre look at those who are marginalised, who marginalise themselves, surviving, though not necessarily surviving. Stories and images of modern urban society at the fringe.

1. The title, children, adult urchins? On the fringes of society, disliked, not accepted, pugnacious?
2. The urban setting, the UK, the streets, sleeping rough, shops and stores, police precincts, parole officers, restaurants and kitchens, licit collecting parks? The musical score?
3. The work of Harris Dickinson, writing the screenplay, directing the film, his role in the film? Perceptiveness?
4. The story of Mike, the sketching of his background, in his 20s, drug use and habit, sleepless, carrying his bag, hungry, begging, people passing by, the cafe, being moved on, the encounter with Simon, something to drink, the offer of food, walking with him, turning in bashing, robbing him, pawning the wants, the arguments with the pawnbroker? Audience response emotionally to his bashing Simon?
5. The police, surveillance, prison, getting out, the possibilities for restorative justice, the session, his leaving? Government and social organisations, care for the parolees, future care or not?
6. The job, the interview with the owner of the restaurant, the article, always ducking out, the clash with him, the girl and her friendship, the owner, sympathy, giving him the job? The work, upset, the fight with the worker, the criticism of the customer, arguing with him, wanting the meal replaced? Fired?
7. Wandering, the job at the parks, with a group character collecting the listener, the characters, discussions, sharing opinions and hopes, the drugs?
8. The future for Mike? The patterns of the past, people reaching out, his bad reactions, always on the fringe?
9. The significance of the symbolic sequences, falling through the tunnel into the light, at the end of the tunnel, the cliffs and the crags? Symbols of his life in the future?
10. The friendship with Nathan, trying to contact him, tracking him down, the accommodation, the clash, the money?
11. The end, the encounter, asking for help, the whole, his being pushed out, falling to…?