Harris Dickinson, Lola Campbell, Alin Uzun
A precocious girl and her childlike father reconnect in Scrapper, the funny, touching and daring feature debut from British director Charlotte Regan (who got her start in film making micro-budget music videos for local London rappers); winner of the top prize in the World Dramatic section at Sundance 2022.
Georgie (spiky newcomer Lola Campbell) is an emphatically independent 12-year-old who lives on her own and under the radar in an outer London estate. She prefers it that way, funding her solo existence via the lucrative bike theft business she runs with her best mate Ali. Georgie’s flat is full of magic – the resident spiders are constantly making snarky comments, and she seems to be building a strange tower into the sky from her mum’s bedroom – but then her estranged father (Harris Dickinson – Triangle of Sadness) turns up out of the blue. Why’s he suddenly taking an interest? She’s doing FINE, thank you very much.
Regan’s hilarious, distinctive and creatively charged film blends magical and social realism to tell a tale of father-daughter bonding flipped on its head, with an overly independent child and a goofy unreliable father who’s only just starting to consider growing up. Vibrant, joyful and stylistically bold, Scrapper is a charming story about youth, imagination and loss that’s full of flourish.
