Film Notes

‘Scrapper’ Review: Harris Dickinson is a Deadbeat Dad With a Heart in a Sweet, Pastel-Colored Spin on British Realism

A winning performance by the 'Triangle of Sadness' star is the chief draw of Charlotte Regan's debut feature, which offers a sunnier take on familiar kitchen-sink territory, but is occasionally a touch too cute.

Georgie, the suitably scrappy 12-year-old protagonist of “Scrapper,” is a near-professional bicycle thief. Expert at picking locks and making quick getaways, she steals the two-wheelers, fixes them up or strips them for parts, and sprays their reassembled frames with a new coat of paint before sending them on their way. Charlotte Regan, the freshman writer-director of this winsome British dramedy, knows a few things herself about making something new and shiny from pilfered parts. Tracking the gradual but inevitable thawing of relations between Georgie and the estranged father who breezes back into her life, Regan’s debut rehashes a host of familiar elements from from assorted kitchen-sink dramas and dysfunctional parent-child stories, painting them colorfully enough that audiences won’t mind the odd bit of rust.

Still, viewed beside other recent breakouts in the British indie bracket — not least a certain other bittersweet father-daughter study directed by a novice named Charlotte — this premiere from Sundance’s world dramatic competition can’t help but feel a little second-hand. Even its quirkiest stylistic flourishes, most notably a mockumentary framing device which sees minor characters commenting on matters from the sidelines, aren’t exactly daring. What might strike viewers as freshest about “Scrapper” are the peppy aesthetic and springy pastel palette it applies to a genre and milieu traditionally dominated by grit and gray. If that lends a precious fairytale air to this slice of social realism, that appears to be the point.

As Georgie, appealingly spunky newcomer Lola Campbell fits right in with this heightened blend of Ken Loach and Wes Anderson. Reeling off impudent dialogue with cheeky comic timing and a killer command of the withering eye-roll, she’s a natural, but a performer in every aspect. That may be fitting, given that Georgie, who has been living alone in a shabby London council house since her mother died of cancer, is quite used to putting on a precocious front — lying to teachers, social workers and concerned adults about her home situation, and feigning to all, even herself, that she’s more okay than she is. Only her one friend Ali (Alin Uzun) — her only peer willing to put up with her ill-tempered sass — knows how alone she is, and can only do so much to fill the void.

That is, until Georgie’s father Jason (the wonderful Harris Dickinson) turns up on the scene without warning, having bailed on his daughter and her mother years before to chase the sweet life on the Costa del Sol. Abruptly moving back into the house despite Georgie’s attempts to evict him, he soon proves useful enough as a buffer for snooping adults, but she’s determined not to warm to him — until, inevitably, they discover they have more in common than just DNA.

There are no surprises here as these two sly wastrels repair their relationship, and in a running time of just 84 minutes, there’s hardly time to rifle through their deeper, darker baggage. But the reunion is touching, in no small part thanks to the furrowed, believable conviction Dickinson brings to the potentially stock character of a bad boy made good. Jason was barely a man when he fathered Georgie, which is how he justifies having left in her infancy; a decade later, his badly bleached crew cut and gym-rat wardrobe are only the most immediately obvious signifiers that he still has much growing-up to do. But Dickinson, both jocular and misty-eyed, plays Jason’s laddish immaturity with a nervy undertow of sorrow, a sense that he’s seen the brink of self-ruin — and will pull his daughter back from it whether she wants his help or not.

Those hints of harder, uglier truths sit a bit oddly with “Scrapper’s” overriding cuteness, not quite belonging to the same world where sagging rows of government housing are painted in matchy-matchy ice-cream hues, where Georgie’s terrorized classmates wryly editorialize to camera (in pristinely composed Super 16 compositions) while wearing coordinated outfits, or where, in the film’s most overtly whimsical diversion, spiders voice their, er, fly-on-the-wall thoughts in comic-style speech bubbles. (Georgie, tough customer that she is, has a soft enough heart to resist vacuuming them up in the living room.)

DP Molly Manning Walker’s vibrant, stock-shifting lensing deftly negotiates the film’s toggling impulses between social and magic realism, while production designer Elena Muntoni finds a clever balance between mundanely escapist decorative flourishes — like the cotton-candy clouds painted on a bedroom wall — and Georgie’s actual flights of fantasy, like the scrap-metal tower she builds to the sky in a locked spare room. Reality eventually makes cruel but necessary intrusions in her life, and in Regan’s film too: Both are stronger for the disruption.

By Guy Lodge, Variety, Jan 23 2023.

Scrapper: a father and daughter prove fun loving criminals in this charming romp

With shades of ‘Paper Moon’ and ‘Aftersun’, 28-year-old director Charlotte Regan spins an imaginative yarn about an Essex tween who bonds with her long-absent dad on the wrong side of the law.

Writer-director Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper is set and shot in the Limes Farm housing estate in Chigwell, Essex, and centres on 12-year-old Georgie, who has lost her mother to an unnamed illness, and whose father appears to be out of the picture. Such location and story fundamentals might lead viewers to expect a Loachian kitchen-sink drama, especially when the film opens with Georgie hoovering and then trying to steal a bike to the stirring sound of ‘Turn the Page’, one of the Streets’ most urgent working-class anthems. But Regan’s preferred realism is magical rather than social.

Georgie, played with remarkable assurance by newcomer Lola Campbell, is happy to spend her summer mooching around the estate with her pal Ali (another impressive street-cast debutant, Alin Uzun). When social services phone to check in, the wily girl plays audio snippets recorded by a friendly shopkeeper pretending to be her uncle. It’s a mark of her resourcefulness; she also imagines spiders conversing in the style of characters from an ’80s computer game, setting the tone for creative asides throughout, which also include her repeatedly conjuring a mighty tower of scrap (hence the film’s title). She seems to be coping well with the loss of her mother when a young man (Harris Dickinson) leaps over the back fence and strolls into garden with the gait and garb of a burglar, only to introduce himself to her and Ali as Jason, her long-absent father.

The children are initially sceptical of Jason – in one of the film’s lively formal flourishes, Georgie imagines him as a vampire, then a prisoner, then a gangster – and understandably wonder where he has been for years (Spain, apparently). Soon, though, Georgie warms to her father, enlisting him as a sentry when she attempts another bike theft. It turns out that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree: when Jason tries unsuccessfully to pick a lock, it’s clear he’s as inept at crime as his daughter. When the pair run away from police, who’ve spotted them, Georgie loses her phone – which contained precious images of her mother – and, evidently in unresolved grief, beats up another girl while looking for it.

There are echoes of Paper Moon (1973) in the father-daughter criminal partnership and the film’s sheer sense of fun. Scrapper is also reminiscent of Aftersun (2022), especially in scenes where Georgie and her dad adopt silly voices and pretend to be a couple with a failing marriage. This sense of humour and the charm of Georgie’s flights of fantasy elevate this feature debut above many of its peers.

Lou Thomas, Sight and Sound, 29th January 2023.

What you thought about Scrapper

Film Responses

Collated Response Comments

124 members and guests attended this screening. The total number of responses received was 81, delivering a film score of 4.32 and a response rate of 65%. Wow. That’s a new record…. many thanks. Keep them coming.

Your comments are collected below.

"I'm not sure how literally this is meant to be read, the premise is riddled with holes. Rather than a Loachian lecture it has more in common with the stories of lone children from the past managing their engagement with the world, everything from 'Stig of the dump' back to 'The secret garden' with a nod to the self sufficient urchins of the Ealing comedies. So should probably judged in this spirit, as a modern fable rather than an entirely realistic work. As such it has much positive to say though it would have been nice to see her put her career of crime behind her. The leads are superb, the dialogue crisp, amusing and largely free of sentiment and it does not outstay its welcome".

“Loved it.  Charming story and so beautifully acted.  Very impressive on all levels 5 out of 5”

“Marvellous script, cast and location - a story told without judgment, dealing with grief without sentimentality. Georgie reminds me strongly of my childhood fictional hero, Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking - independent, self-sufficient and creative; no mother, absent father. Georgie's platonic relationship with Ali - partner in crime in the bike remodelling business as well as in philosophical chats - is charmingly portrayed. That with her returned father had me on the edge of my seat. Really enjoying our new membership!”

“Excellent. A charming and original film that is both touching and funny. Features a delightfully engaging performance from the main character”

“Lovely, heart-warming and funny film with an outstanding performance in the lead role by Lola Campbell”.

“What a fabulous debut feature film from such a young director, Charlotte Regan. I loved the chemistry between Lola Campbell and Harris Dickinson, especially the scene at the train station. A truly uplifting film and full of heart”.

“Lovely, heart-warming and funny film with outstanding performance by Lola Campbell in the lead role. Real emotional depth and nuance in the performances “.

“After a bit of a slow start I became more engaged in the film and its characters. Considering they were not played by actors, Georgie and Ali were excellently portrayed. Some quirky moments with talking spiders and imaginary towers of scrap but also some very funny interactions between Georgie and her father. Overall thought it was a very good choice, but not quite excellent. Thanks”.

“Enjoyed this film very much. Wonderful acting by the young cast. Made me want to see more directed by Charlotte Regan. Had a deft touch with a positive ending”.

“Convincing performances and great storytelling. Loved the humour and the way the central relationship developed”.

“Georgie's actress delivered a mesmerising performance, and the relationships were beautifully depicted. The symbolism was wonderful, and the scriptwriting was excellent. Some unrealistic stereotypes could be improved, but it was a simple yet soulful film--what more could we ask for? This is not quite a review, but the story rings true. Whatever happens in our lives, there will always be help around us, just like in this film. There are always guardian angels. Acceptance can often be challenging, but I felt happy that, in the film, the daughter and father opened up, discussed their feelings, and chose to allow themselves to be happy. (Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead; excessive grief is the enemy of the living.) Thank you”.

“Why the subtitles?? A British film in the English language - surely we can manage without subtitles and audio description?? Or did I miss the decision to become a hard-of-hearing film club??

The film was superb. Funny and moving, wonderfully natural acting, but with a little bit of added quirkiness (special mention to the spiders). Tight direction and great camerawork, and succinctly delivered in under 90 minutes. Looking forward to seeing more from this Director as her career grows”.

“Quirky and for me a little too quirky to draw me into what was the overriding issue of how a child deals with losing her mum”.

“One of the best ever Remarkable acting. Delightful coming together of two lovely souls. Thanks for choosing it”.

“The director took scraps and fabricated a beautiful, layered film that was not afraid to put emotion at the forefront. It wasn't a perfect film but it was greater than the sum of its parts. Reminded me of Manchester by the sea. The little girl who played the lead was amazing”.

“I really liked the director's style and the casting was impeccable. The film at times felt a bit disjointed but I particularly enjoyed the final third section. Overall, I would describe it as gritty, moving and funny”.

“Very moving. Excellent child star”.

“All I can say is have more English films. Heart-warming”.

“Well made and great entertainment”.

“Crummy start – warmed up – then very moving”.

“It grows on you and it is very emotional”.

“Very unusual portrayal of grief. Amusing”.

“Really cool!!”

“Second time watching this film. I enjoyed its quirky sense of humour more on a second watch. What a beautiful portrayal of grief, family and coming of age for both father and daughter”.

“Loved that her hearing was never mentioned”.

“Such a warm uplifting film. Wonderful acting”.

“Delightful film…very good script, superb acting – Georgie and Dad. BUT hated subtitles. They masked shots, intrusive. Spoilt it for me”.

“Touching story with a gentle humour. Loved this”.

“What a self-sufficient young girl! They could learn form each other & hopefully grow together. Heartwarming”.

“Loved all the effects. The way the story was told. Very life affirming”.

“Why the subtitles?”.

“Charming film…more please”.

“Poignant and well observed. Nicely paced”.

“Brilliantly acted. Moving film”.

“Charming – excellent filming. Effective but minimal dialogue”.

“An interesting look at daughter and father relationship. Well-acted and enjoyed the humour”.

“Good in parts – like the curate’s egg – the facile casual bike theft, the community would have been aware of it. The insistence of the housekeeping standards of her mother was excellent”.

“A lovely film. The interaction of father and daughter was excellent”.

“Innocent, direct, inventive – but harsh relationship with father. But challenging and inventive filming. Good touches of humour”.

“Good dialogue – very good story without being mawkish”.

“Very well acted. Very original if not convincing! Good fun anyway”.

“Very realistic performances. Excellent dialogue”.

“Borderline mawkish”.

“Took a while to get into it. Good choice of actors, but did not like the music – perhaps my age”.

“Fantastic young actors. Story was boring – but a happy ending”.

“Difficult moral stand everyone together but stealing from others – reinforces working class stereotypes”.