The Selfish Giant 2013

Sara Stewart, New York Post: It is admirably unsparing and gloomily atmospheric. And I looked at my watch a bunch of times. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ultimately, it's a sad, tough sit - but worth seeing for its gritty honesty and strong cast. Read more

Guy Lodge, Variety: The pic is ostensibly more conventional than Barnard's acclaimed hybrid-doc debut, The Arbor, but exhibits stunning formal progress nonetheless. Read more

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club: That The Selfish Giant feels familiar rather than groundbreaking makes it seem to some degree a step back for its talented director, but she's avoided the sophomore jinx with aplomb. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: [A] wrenching story of working-poor desperation in northern England. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: "The Selfish Giant" is a story of dependence, damage and desperation, told with grit and grimy frankness. It's also a portrait of friendship born of need and emptiness, on the road to nowhere. Read more

Kate Erbland, Film.com: An emotionally punishing experience. Read more

Neil Young, Hollywood Reporter: Solidly effective addition to Britain's social realism tradition, elevated by excellent performances by the young leads and some unexpectedly poetic touches. Read more

Annlee Ellingson, Los Angeles Times: "The Selfish Giant" is devastating social realism in the mode of Ken Loach's "Kes." Read more

David Thomson, The New Republic: The Selfish Giant is a film of such power and beauty that there will be no escaping it -- so long as you go to see it in the first place. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Much of the movie is hard to bear, yet it never drags, thanks to the momentum that Barnard finds in the fable, and, above all, to the energy that she unleashes in her young leads. Read more

Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: The original story was for kids; the movie is about kids, but its grim depictions of violence against innocents may be too harrowing even for some adults. Yet the movie is engrossing, and sure to linger long after its poignant culmination. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Both a tender ode to childhood and a wrenching eulogy for lost innocence. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The nonprofessional actors who play Arbor and Swifty have an easy, unself-conscious rapport, and convey both the bond between the friends and its gradual fraying. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: 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. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Clio Barnard's The Selfish Giant isn't the Oscar Wilde children's story, but more an inspired take on it in the kitchen-sink style of a Ken Loach drama. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: Rooted in a very real, modern Britain ... But for all its stark realism, it has a touch of myth to it too, and it's lyrically shot. Read more

Eric Hynes, Time Out: It's the two young stars-one a whirlwind and the other a quiet protector-who make this only-slightly tall tale into something towering. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The Selfish Giant earns all of its emotion the honest way. If it's at times painful to watch, in the end it gives back much more than it takes. It's generous and steadfast, like true friendship itself. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: The Selfish Giant never feels predictable. Credit the remarkable young actors, as well as Barnard's observant style: Every moment in this film is alive with possibility, with the chance that everything will go haywire in a new way. Read more