Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Pure"'s lively and colorful cinematic style turns a "downer" story about grim lives and desperation into a powerful love story. Returning to the subject of troubled relationships between a mother and her children, which he explored in his 1998 film "Hideous Kinky", Scottish director Gillies MacKinnon zeroes in on a 10-year-old boy who goes to extreme lengths to rescue his mom from heroin addiction. Resourceful and determined, the lad's persistent wooing of his mom lifts the story out of the realm of social realism to give audiences a new perspective on addicts and addiction. This one has the look and feel of an art house hit.
Young Henry Eden carries the film as Paul, a cheerful lad who has learned how to prepare the "medicine" that gets his mother, Mel (Molly Parker), going each morning since the tragic death of his father. He and his younger brother, Lee (Vinni Hunter), live with their mom in East London's Upton Park, across the street from West Ham United's football stadium, the scene of happier times as a family. Only when a close friend of his mom's (Marsha Thomason) dies of an overdose does Paul realize the danger of his mom's medicine.
When he angrily confronts her with her addiction, she agrees to go cold turkey. But she can't get through the self-imposed imprisonment in her own bedroom. To Paul's horror, his dad's best friend, Lenny (David Wenham), a local pimp and drug dealer, misguidedly supplies Mel with drugs to keep her going.
Outside pressures build. The children's grandmother (Geraldine McEwan) wants custody of Paul and Lee. Social Services is only to happy to agree. And a police detective (Gary Lewis) wants Paul to help him nail Lenny. Paul's only escape comes in his budding friendship with a pregnant waitress, Louise (Keira Knightley), but she too is developing a drug problem. Wanting to understand how his mother feels, Paul coaxes Louise into letting him smoke heroin. Seeing her son stoned brings Mel to her senses.
The performances are superb, especially the key one between Parker and Eden as two people who desperately need each other. Pivotally, MacKinnon and writer Alison Hume concentrate on character, so the movie becomes one about people's lives rather than their addictions. They put us on an emotional roller coaster as Paul's every attempt at happiness is short-lived. All the tough love in the world won't do the trick unless his mom is willing to end the self-destructive behavior.
Cinematographer John de Borman's composition is arresting as the camera seeks out adventurous vantage points. Composer Nitin Sawhney, who also plays Lenny's henchman, lets Indian motifs filter through a lively Western score. But the film's greatest asset is the small, dark, pleading face of the single-minded Eden.
PURE
A Little Wing Films/Kudos production
Credits:
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Screenwriter: Alison Hume
Producer: Howard Burch
Executive producers: Robert Bevan, Keith Hayley, Charlie Savill, Amanda Coombes, Amit Barooah, Stephen Garrett, Jane Featherstone
Director of photography: John de Borman
Production designer: Jon Henson
Music: Nitin Sawhney
Costume designer: Kate Carin
Editor: Pia Di Ciaula
Cast:
Mel: Molly Parker
Paul: Harry Eden
Lenny: David Wenham
Louise: Keira Knightley
Nanna: Geraldine McEwan
Vicki: Marsha Thomason
Lee: Vinni Hunter
Inspector French: Gary Lewis
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- "Pure"'s lively and colorful cinematic style turns a "downer" story about grim lives and desperation into a powerful love story. Returning to the subject of troubled relationships between a mother and her children, which he explored in his 1998 film "Hideous Kinky", Scottish director Gillies MacKinnon zeroes in on a 10-year-old boy who goes to extreme lengths to rescue his mom from heroin addiction. Resourceful and determined, the lad's persistent wooing of his mom lifts the story out of the realm of social realism to give audiences a new perspective on addicts and addiction. This one has the look and feel of an art house hit.
Young Henry Eden carries the film as Paul, a cheerful lad who has learned how to prepare the "medicine" that gets his mother, Mel (Molly Parker), going each morning since the tragic death of his father. He and his younger brother, Lee (Vinni Hunter), live with their mom in East London's Upton Park, across the street from West Ham United's football stadium, the scene of happier times as a family. Only when a close friend of his mom's (Marsha Thomason) dies of an overdose does Paul realize the danger of his mom's medicine.
When he angrily confronts her with her addiction, she agrees to go cold turkey. But she can't get through the self-imposed imprisonment in her own bedroom. To Paul's horror, his dad's best friend, Lenny (David Wenham), a local pimp and drug dealer, misguidedly supplies Mel with drugs to keep her going.
Outside pressures build. The children's grandmother (Geraldine McEwan) wants custody of Paul and Lee. Social Services is only to happy to agree. And a police detective (Gary Lewis) wants Paul to help him nail Lenny. Paul's only escape comes in his budding friendship with a pregnant waitress, Louise (Keira Knightley), but she too is developing a drug problem. Wanting to understand how his mother feels, Paul coaxes Louise into letting him smoke heroin. Seeing her son stoned brings Mel to her senses.
The performances are superb, especially the key one between Parker and Eden as two people who desperately need each other. Pivotally, MacKinnon and writer Alison Hume concentrate on character, so the movie becomes one about people's lives rather than their addictions. They put us on an emotional roller coaster as Paul's every attempt at happiness is short-lived. All the tough love in the world won't do the trick unless his mom is willing to end the self-destructive behavior.
Cinematographer John de Borman's composition is arresting as the camera seeks out adventurous vantage points. Composer Nitin Sawhney, who also plays Lenny's henchman, lets Indian motifs filter through a lively Western score. But the film's greatest asset is the small, dark, pleading face of the single-minded Eden.
PURE
A Little Wing Films/Kudos production
Credits:
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Screenwriter: Alison Hume
Producer: Howard Burch
Executive producers: Robert Bevan, Keith Hayley, Charlie Savill, Amanda Coombes, Amit Barooah, Stephen Garrett, Jane Featherstone
Director of photography: John de Borman
Production designer: Jon Henson
Music: Nitin Sawhney
Costume designer: Kate Carin
Editor: Pia Di Ciaula
Cast:
Mel: Molly Parker
Paul: Harry Eden
Lenny: David Wenham
Louise: Keira Knightley
Nanna: Geraldine McEwan
Vicki: Marsha Thomason
Lee: Vinni Hunter
Inspector French: Gary Lewis
Running time -- 96 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/11/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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