Scrapper

Grade: A-

Take the father/daughter dynamic from Aftersun, give it the dreamy pensive indie vibe of Palm Trees and Power Lines and Of An Age, sprinkle a bit of the crude, meandering documentary feel of The Florida Project – and you have Scrapper. Writer/director Charlotte Regan, in her feature film debut, gives us a reflective atmosphere of the aforementioned movies, with a touch of the Wes Anderson color scheme. Even at just 84 minutes, she manages to find time to linger on certain moments without the plot really advancing. But it’s anything but boring. I love it when characters are allowed to just BE for a few minutes.

Regan cultivates an outstanding debut performance from Lola Campbell, who stars as 12-year-old Georgie. Her mother has died. Her father has been out of the picture all her life. She’s all alone in her London flat, but manages to go to school most of the time, and make money by stealing bikes and selling them for scraps. The social workers and foster care people wouldn’t be too pleased if they caught wind of this minor living by herself, so Georgie keeps up appearances by telling all grownups/teachers that she’s living with her uncle, who works a lot, which explains why nobody sees him. A local convenience store cashier helps her out by speaking certain sentences into Georgie’s iPhone, which she plays back whenever someone in authority calls the landline at home. The companionship of her best friend Ali (Alin Uzun) helps Georgie through her grief.

One day, Georgie’s dad Jason (Harris Dickinson – from Triangle of Sadness, See How They Run, and Where the Crawdads Sing) literally drops in, by jumping the backyard fence. Understandably, Georgie doesn’t want him there, but he threatens to spill the beans about her living situation if she won’t let him stay. Dickinson adds yet another splendid performance to his diverse resume, and he might be joining my list of favorite actors working today. He and Campbell have quite the rapport onscreen. He helps her steal bikes, and assists when she gets into trouble and needs to disappear – which happens more than once. Bittersweetly, she calls him Jason rather than “dad,” but I suppose that’s par for the course.

The ending is perhaps a bit obvious, easy, and preconceived, but the way these characters arrive there – with a kind of uncommon honest dialogue – is certainly fresh and unique. Not everything gets neatly solved and resolved. We get the feeling there is more journey to be had beyond the last reel, and I hope they have bright futures. Look at me, talking about them like they are real people. Scrapper has a way of bringing them to life. By the end, we feel like we know Georgie and Jason.

Grade: A-