The Selfish Giant

I read the film festival programme, I rate things Id like to see, I see whether you I can timetable them, I buy some tickets and generally I have an entertaining and stimulating time going to watch films. Sometimes, however, I get it horribly wrong. Going to The Selfish Giant was one of those times.

I arrived at the Paramount to find I was in row M, which as Ian has already said is "unsuitable for people with legs" and this didn't bode well. The film turned out to be a much bigger problem than the seat. Five minutes in, I considered whether to go home but some masochistic or thrifty impulses prevented me.

So what was so terrible? The Selfish Giant is 93 minutes of all the characters being almost unrelentingly unpleasant to each other for no good reason. The main characters are two teenage boys, Arbor and Swifty and they are both unappealing. Arbor has ADHD and is as foul-mouthed as his parents and the only time I warmed to him was when he hugged his mother to comfort her. Swifty is slightly less obnoxious ( he's kind to horses)  but he gets killed off. The setting is industrial and grim and poor in a way the British can do so well.

I can hear you say "lots of films are about characters being unpleasant to each other" and that's true. Usually there's some point to it, or something uplifting comes from it and with this film this just not the case. The film festival programme says "exciting, tough and superbly acted" but I say "stay away". This is my first zero-rated film on this blog because cleaning the oven would really have been more fun than watching this. And cleaning the oven usually provides a sense of satisfaction.

Anne's rating 0/5