Selfish Giant Review/Analysis

Selfish Giant Review/Analysis

Selfish Giant was produced on the  25th October 2013 in the UK. The film was directed and also written by Clio Barnard, and also written by Oscar Wilde (inspired by the 'Selfish Giant'. 

The selfish giant is about a 13 year old called Arbor (Connor Chapman) and his best friend called Swifty (Shaun Thomas). Arbor and Swifty were both expelled from school and now seem to also be excluded from their own neighbourhood so they begin to start looking for something else to do. This is when they come across Kitten (Sean Gilder) who is a local scrap dealer. Arbor is seen to have a natural talent while you see that Swifty has a gift for horses. They start to travel around town picking everything up and then you see Kittens favoritism for Swifty causing Arbor to feel angry and neglected. This drives a huge wedge between the boys, this causes Arbor to become greedy and uncontrollable, this leads to a lot of tension which leads to the devastation.

• Mise en Scene

Setting

The film is seen to be shot in Bradford which fits in well with the overall idea of the film and also the people. You see the run down houses and flats that give the overall feel of the position most of those families are in and also their earnings. Overall this seems to help the fact that this film is a social-realism drama. Certain details explain what kind of place it is and these things are the huge power plants and the large expanse of electrical cable, this tells us that it is a very primary place with most of the jobs labour intensive and low waged.

Props

It seemed like all the props used in this film were done so professionally that i felt nearly all of the props looks realistic. The scraps used were done to perfection. Having the props looking realistic meant that you got the whole feel of the film and these helped you to truly connect to the character and each of their jobs.

• Cinematography

The cinematography was shot extremely well for this film, each scene you grasped what they wanted you to understand and also your emotion. A good example of well shot scenes was when the large expanse of land was shown you could see how different it was from the panoramic view with the harsh skies and the large power plants in the distance showing how soon this was going to cause a lot of heartbreak. The skies were a huge part of this also because when they scene was happy the skies were bright, however when the skies were dull you understood that something bad could be happening to cause the sadness.

• Sound

Each sound in this movie is reflective of what they want you to feel and the emotion that should be felt due to the nature of the scene. A part that connected well with is when the music is soft and sheltered, this is played in quite meaningful scenes and powerful ones. Then when a sad or harsh hitting scene comes along the music seems to stop as it wants you to think about what they would be feeling in that moment making you connect to the character a lot more.

• Performance

I felt that all the performances in this film were professional and all the lines were delivered well. I felt that the performances that touched me the most were the ones of Arbor and Swifty, their connection and chemistry on the screen is so heartfelt and each scene is delivered to the full extent to their ability. The scene that touched me the most was when Arbor stayed outside the house of Swifty after his swift death, i felt that Swifty's name in this connected to his death and the way he was there one minute and seconds later he was gone. Arbor stays there in all the weathers and then ventures home to be left with no one. Until he imagines Swifty and his hand coming towards him, this touched me because you don't truly understand what each of them meant to each of them as one leaves the other is left alone.

Overall the feel of this film was completed and captured because of the incredible performances of each of the cast members in it making it possible which i find incredible.

• Editing

All the editing done in this film was done perfectly, each of the scenes connected with nothing missing. This made the film flow smoothly and not make it confusing at all. Certain scenes in the film were sped up because it showed the time flying by and the concentration that was going into each of the jobs, but i felt that created an atmosphere which worked well with the film and messages being put across.

I liked this film because of the characters and their roles that lead you to feel very little emotion to nearly flooding the floors with tears which i find quite incredible that anyone can change your emotion in a few minutes. Overall the film was worth the watch and it surprised me from what i first thought it would be like which was a nice surprise.