Movie Review: "Scrapper"; Incredible Lead Performances Bolster An Exceptional Film
10/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
Scrapper is the feature-film debut of Charlotte Regan, already a BAFTA-nominee for her impressive catalogue of shorts, and it immediately cements her as a vibrant new voice in British cinema. Coming in at just over 80 minutes, the script is tight and heartfelt, and lasts precisely as long as it intends to. It’s a film that doesn’t need to be even a second longer or shorter than it already is; it’s as small and perfectly formed as is required.
Scrapper would make a fabulous double-bill with this year’s other colourful British indie gem, Rye Lane. What the latter says about South London, Scrapper says about East; we just need a loving ode to North and West to complete the quartet. But where Rye Lane explored romantic connection, Scrapper is about a different type of love - the bond between a grieving daughter and her previously absent father, abruptly installed back into her life after the death of her mother.
Image courtesy Kino Lorber
The film is sublimely acted by its two leads - man-of-the-moment Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) and first-timer Lola Campbell - and is practically a two-hander between the pair for the majority of the film's running time. Harris is as reliably excellent as we’ve come to expect from his short but exceptional filmography, tender and vulnerable in equal measure. But it’s Campbell who is the revelation of the piece. She’s the beating heart of the film, somehow both devastating and life-affirming, in a performance which is immediately one of the finest by a child actor in recent memory. Campbell’s comic timing is impeccable, her line delivery on several occasions being completely guffaw-inducing in a wonderfully dry and British way, almost evoking the rascally spirit of a young Daisy May Cooper. But she’s just as confident with the more serious material, perhaps even more so than the comedy, and her Georgie will shatter your heart into a thousand pieces; you’ll want to reach into the screen and give her a hug by the film’s end.
Like Rye Lane, Scrapper has a tremendous sense of place. The environment in which our heroes navigate their relationship is just as much of a character in the film as either of the two stars. It’s an East End fable, firmly grounded in the sprawling estates and corner shops and playing fields that our characters frequent - and the place has never looked more charming. It sees the world through a child’s eyes, full of colour and wonder, or how one might look fondly back on a childhood spent running through its fields and buying sweets from its shops. Every shot is seductively constructed, fizzing with vibrancy and energy, painting an earnest and sentimental picture of the world and finding the whimsy and magic in the everyday.
Scrapper is a revelation of a film - a complete joy from start to finish, and one which emblematizes the very best that British cinema has to offer. The cinematic landscape is all the richer for its existence, and leaves us gasping with anticipation for the future filmography of Charlotte Regan and the opportunity to see the world through her eyes once more.