Sleeping rough on the streets of London, young homeless man Mike (Frank Dillane) seems unable to escape the chaos of his impulsivity and substance abuse. He’s intelligent and charismatic, but when his addiction results in an act of unprovoked violence, he’s forced to break free from a cycle of self-destruction. In a whiplash moment of actor-turned-filmmaker manifest destiny, Harris Dickinson — seen most recently at the Belcourt opposite Nicole Kidman in BABYGIRL — displays a seemingly effortless knack for directing with URCHIN, his raw and remarkable debut feature.
“A remarkably assured directorial debut…. URCHIN has shades of the work of the Safdie brothers in its nervy energy, and owes something to British auteur Andrea Arnold in its sensitive portrayal of life on the fringes of society. But it’s also entirely Dickinson’s own vision, which meshes the surreal and the bracingly real…. You are left stunned by how talented Dickinson and [actor Frank] Dillane are. It’s the kind of work that makes you excited to see what they do next.” —Esther Zuckerman, Daily Beast “There’s an unexpected levity and moments of arresting beauty to be found in this distinctive directorial debut from the actor Harris Dickinson…. This gritty social realist character study is spiked with striking and unexpected detours.” —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily “Dickinson clearly hopes this story will make it that much harder for people to dehumanize the homeless population, but the power of his film — and the promise of his intelligence as a filmmaker — is that it recognizes how a portrait of mottled ambivalence might better accomplish that goal than a million cheap sops of empathy…. Dickinson’s terrific debut insists that the view from our side of the screen is just as clear as the one from Mike’s.” —David Ehrlich, IndieWire
