Hayley Squires, Joseph Quinn, Saura Lightfoot Leon, Lily-Beau Leach
British writer-director Luna Carmoon draws on her own life for this visceral psychological drama that won her the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature at BFI London Film Festival 2023.
Seven-year-old Maria’s (Lily-Beau Leach) South East London childhood with her mother Cynthia (Hayley Squires), an obsessive hoarder, feels sparkling and magical until tragedy separates them and Maria enters a more conventional world. Years later, the now-teenage Maria (Saura Lightfoot Leon) seeks to reconnect with her mother the only way she knows how – bin-dipping for discarded treasures and collecting black bags full of festering garbage. When she meets Michael (Joseph Quinn), another troubled teen, they develop an intense and animalistic bond.
Carmoon’s audacious, bracingly unusual feature debut announces her as a talent to watch. Powered by committed performances from its terrific cast (especially mesmerising newcomer Leon), it tells a fierce, uncompromising and emotional story about a young woman’s burgeoning sexuality and her queasy reckoning with grief and a traumatic past.