The Selfish Giant

It’s so assured and accomplished, so rigorous on both a human and technical level, and so clearly driven by love for this harsh landscape and its hardened people, that I was entirely swept away by its characters and their story.

So hauntingly perfect is Barnard’s film, and so skin-pricklingly alive does it make you feel to watch it, that at first you can hardly believe the sum of what you have seen.

The Selfish Giant preaches compassion by showing us in its very closing moments, the fathomless goodness that can lie beneath even the spittingest, snarlingest exterior.

The Selfish Giant is a harsh movie, but it isn’t devoid of hope, because Barnard understands that everything has value—even if it can’t be realized until after an object’s been tossed out.

A terrific human drama about two boys about to be consigned to the scrapheap, with standout performances from its young leads.

The ear for language is paired with an eye for the landscape, and the film finds beauty even in such a seemingly dreary, economically depressed community.

It is admirably unsparing and gloomily atmospheric. And I looked at my watch a bunch of times.

An absolutely inspiring film about a massive person who is utterly selfish. Mark Pitts only plays a small part but for me steals the show. A future star !!

a movie not many will see. a shame. it is, head and shoulders, better than 99.9% of the crap coming out of hollywood. unflinching, unsentimental, but very moving and sensitive. i missed a good quarter of the dialogue because i couldn't sort out the Northern accent. which really didn't matter. the story was so well conveyed cinematically and through the actors, it is easily grasped. outstanding.

A surprisingly good movie, unexpectedly exceeded all my expectations and put me on speechless. It was inspired by the Oscar Wilde story which portrays two English boys who are suspended from their school for misbehaving. They are inherited from the poor family which led them to work for a local scrap dealer. After sometime the things changes between them and decides to move in different directions, which ends in a shocking tragedy. The story was told in a straight forward flow in a raw form with a possible realistic approach. Great performance by the two inexperience kids and a fine direction. One of the best British movie in a recent past with a good message carrying in it. The Story of a two kids with different characteristic nature, but same interest which puts them together. The relationship between them and the path they choose to travel in life was clearly depicted. And so the nature of unexpected accident that strike without a warning. All together this movie became a solid piece of cinema, but a bit rough in parts. Since 'Paranoid Park' I have not disturbed by any film scenes. The whole day I was thinking about the disaster that happened in this movie. For that scene alone this movie deserves to be R rated. Also, there are many bad words used in dialogues which is not suitable for kids. I love British movie, if you do as well then don't miss this movie.

The Selfish Giant is an interesting watch—gritty, heartfelt, and beautifully shot, with powerful performances from its young leads. There’s a rawness to it that feels authentic, and the friendship at its centre is touching in that bruised, kitchen-sink way. But as much as I wanted to be moved, something about it felt a bit… manipulative. Like it knew exactly how to push the poverty-porn buttons. It lingers on the hardship in a way that sometimes feels more exploitative than empathetic. I admired the craft, but I left it feeling more wrung out than enriched. Worth seeing, but not life-changing.