Boy A

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Movie Details

• Genre: Drama
• Release Date: 2008-07-23 NY/LA
• Running Time: 100 min.
• Director: John Crowley
• Cast: Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Siobhan Finneran, Alfie Owen, Victoria Brazier, Skye Bennett, Madeleine Rakic-Platt, Josef Altin, Dudley Brewis, Leigh Symonds
• Producer: Lynn Horsford
• Writer: Jonathan Trigell, Mark O'Rowe
• Distributor: The Weinstein Co.
• Official Site: Boy A Official Site

Directed by John Crowley, Boy A is a brutally soulful film that tells the tale of a young man trying to forge a new life after serving time for a murder he committed as a boy. The film's strengths are many: marvelous performances; a challenging script that makes seamless connections between issues of violence (domestic and societal) and failed social contracts (in the family, school, workplace, and pub); plus some scathing commentary on media fear-mongering. When the film begins, "Boy A"—Eric Wilson, a nationally notorious child murderer—is being released from a juvenile prison in Britain. Now an adult, he is introduced picking a new name, Jack Burridge, and prepping for life in a town far from the scene of his crime. (Alfie Owen plays the pre-teen Eric; Andrew Garfield plays the adult Jack.) At his new job, Jack's shy, good-natured demeanor—he's childlike in many ways—quickly wins over his co-workers, and as his new relationships deepen, Jack is torn between the desire to reveal his past and the need to protect his secret. Crowley, his cast, and the script constantly reveal new layers to the characters, preempting simple labels like "hero" and "villain"; these people are cringingly human. Boy A is that rare film that refuses easy answers while leaving absolutely no question where it stands. It's an unabashed bleeding-heart film—but a tough one.