this movie isn’t about trash piling up or rats or broken houses. it’s about what it’s like to be a child surrounded by adult problems. carrying sadness too heavy for your age and not knowing where to put it. it’s lyrical and raw in how it shows family, childhood, and what poverty leaves behind. every frame feels carefully held like slow, soft, and full of meaning. it’s literally both like a dream for it's cinematography and a quiet scream for it's content.

i love how this film uses symbolism that speaks so much about poor youth. the glasgow setting is run-down, dirty, full of garbage it shows how kids grow up in places where their needs, feelings, and safety are ignored. the housing crisis and the lack of care aren’t just in the background, they are the background. it’s hard growing up in a world that’s already falling apart. there’s no comfort, no guide. just a quiet ache. the film shows what it’s like to face death, poverty, and abandonment before you even know what to do with those things.

his dream of the new housing estate is everything. it’s what every kids wish life could be: clean, safe, peaceful. whether he ever reaches it or not doesn’t matter. it’s the way he escapes. when things get too heavy, he lean into silence or imagination. and that’s what survival can look like.

every kid deserves to feel safe. to play. to dream. to make mistakes without it being the end of the world. but you see how that’s taken away. it really shows how some kids are forced to grow up too fast, carry things too heavy, and live in a world that doesn't protect them. it’s unfair. childhood should be soft, not something you have to survive ;<

rated 5 stars. probably one of my favorite coming-of-age films. it’s personal to me as someone who grew up in a poor family. someone who’s always wanted change and still trying to find peace.

#52: a criterion film from your watchlist | my criterion challenge 2025

this movie isn’t about trash piling up or rats or broken houses. it’s about what it’s like to be a child surrounded by adult problems. carrying sadness too heavy for your age and not knowing where to put it. it’s lyrical and raw in how it shows family, childhood, and what poverty leaves behind. every frame feels carefully held like slow, soft, and full of meaning. it’s literally both like a dream for it's cinematography and a quiet scream for it's content.

i love how this film uses symbolism that speaks so much about poor youth. the glasgow setting is run-down, dirty, full of garbage it shows how kids grow up in places where their needs, feelings, and safety are ignored. the housing crisis and the lack of care aren’t just in the background, they are the background. it’s hard growing up in a world that’s already falling apart. there’s no comfort, no guide. just a quiet ache. the film shows what it’s like to face death, poverty, and abandonment before you even know what to do with those things.

his dream of the new housing estate is everything. it’s what every kids wish life could be: clean, safe, peaceful. whether he ever reaches it or not doesn’t matter. it’s the way he escapes. when things get too heavy, he lean into silence or imagination. and that’s what survival can look like.

every kid deserves to feel safe. to play. to dream. to make mistakes without it being the end of the world. but you see how that’s taken away. it really shows how some kids are forced to grow up too fast, carry things too heavy, and live in a world that doesn't protect them. it’s unfair. childhood should be soft, not something you have to survive ;<

rated 5 stars. probably one of my favorite coming-of-age films. it’s personal to me as someone who grew up in a poor family. someone who’s always wanted change and still trying to find peace.

#52: a criterion film from your watchlist | my criterion challenge 2025

What Lynne Ramsey accomplished using the idea of social decay through both a garbage strike and a boy guilty of what he has done is a strong, poignant, and quietly turbulent film that is hard not to love on a deeper sociological level, especially for the development of a young living in this condition. He manages the find escapism through beauty, but it doesn't do much for the ways that other people act around him. The writing of all of the characters is wonderfila and the acting from every actor is great. I'm guilty of being harsh on child actors but all of them, especially William Eadie as James, a character whose paralyzed mind is so wonderfully explored that it makes the ending hit so much harder as you know the place he'd rather be, a beautiful meadow in the sun, and when that turns into rain, it becomes a harsh reminder of the realities others face. It could be the responsibility of workers going on strike or their families, but it's always persistent.

What Lynne Ramsey accomplished using the idea of social decay through both a garbage strike and a boy guilty of what he has done is a strong, poignant, and quietly turbulent film that is hard not to love on a deeper sociological level, especially for the development of a young living in this condition. He manages the find escapism through beauty, but it doesn't do much for the ways that other people act around him. The writing of all of the characters is wonderfila and the acting from every actor is great. I'm guilty of being harsh on child actors but all of them, especially William Eadie as James, a character whose paralyzed mind is so wonderfully explored that it makes the ending hit so much harder as you know the place he'd rather be, a beautiful meadow in the sun, and when that turns into rain, it becomes a harsh reminder of the realities others face. It could be the responsibility of workers going on strike or their families, but it's always persistent.

Lynne Ramsey, I love you

Lynne Ramsey, I love you

i want to be emotional but snowball literally went to the moon first before the artemis

i want to be emotional but snowball literally went to the moon first before the artemis

There's so much I have to say about this. I have so many thoughts about this film that it's hard to encapsulate them all in words.

First, starting with the cinematography and direction, I think that was such a strong point, unbelievably so too. The movie made you feel dirty. It was filthy, to the point where you can experience the streets of Glasgow in ur own room. There was such a weird, subtle thing about everything that it was just insanely profound. Every muscle the actors moved was important. James holds his sister closer to his face when he fights Ryan. Every bit of the movie was intentional, and it all comes together in such cohesiveness at the end, where you learn our protagonist is not reliable.

Now, for the movie itself, I have a few things I didn't like, but mostly, the movie was amazing. My biggest issue was the nudity. It was children, and I know indie movies are kinda easy going on this, but it's still off-putting seeing a 14-year-old girl or 11-year-old boy, or 7-year-old girl like that. It seems wrong, but for all intents and purposes, it wasn't horribly distracting cause its mostly a few scenes.

The other thing I absolutely loved is james sort of decent into the mental hellscape of his own mind. It was so pure, to the extent where james seemed alive in a real way. Many movies seem like acting, but James seems alive. The way he doesn't respond to strangers or people. The awkward shyness of that age its all so real.

Also, the bus sequence, I think it also showed his inner childlike curiosity, which is why he kept walking even after the bus, but I think the moment he saw the clean and empty land, his heart sank, he was seeing what he would never be. whole again.

James ' relationship with his family was so unique. he objectified his older sister, yet he "loved" his younger one by the end. I use "loved" because I think it was born of his knowledge that Anne was the same with everyone. I think both of James' friends, Anne and Kenny, kinda represent him losing himself. Anne made him feel liked and loved, and seen, but it was never him. The more he showed her to her, the emptier he got. he simply took it out of himself and gave it to her. Kenny was harder to break down because I do think Kenny represents James's innocence. His child-like state. His wonder and positivity. But Kenny is what Jame couldn't be. James tries to run towards it, but I think it died the moment Ryan died. which I think was a moment where James did end up losing both parts of himself. I think the moon scene solidified this for me. He had childlike wonder, but he had the rage of a unfulfiled lover.
Another part of this that was interesting was how James acted during the lice scene. Him being so repulsed by being pushed down (besides the obvious rebellious child phase) was a reaction to him personifying himself as Ryan. He already told Anne he was Ryan, and so his being pushed down as he did to him felt the same. I think the whole movie is James sort of manifesting Ryan in himself in a way.

The bath scene was also really interesting because you can see how James felt masculinized. After all, Anne was in an intimate position, yet James kept his place in the tub. It seems minor, but to me, that was a moment where I saw it as James taking his role as the "lover" literally in a way.

and finally the ending. I don't think there was a better way to end this movie. Starting with the cleaning scene, I think the filth was a reminder of this world's shortcomings. That humans are hazardous, we are always gonna be the disruptors and the filth. But the moment it's cleaned up. Everything gets tenfold clearer.
I know this may be a headcanon, but I think when James saw those streets, that's when he realized, beneath the filth of a person he is, he is nothing. a sort of shell, ever since Ryan died, he has done nothing but borrow emotions or exploit them.

Thus, the ending where he goes into the water, and also goes to that window from which he previously jumped out to leave, I think it shows that he dreamed of being normal. that he was just a kid who couldn't stop blaming himself.
i wish I could've been there for these people, because I know how real this is. Children accidentally kill each other or accidentally die so often. I really think if someone was there to tell him it's okay that he is allowed to live as he wants, so much would have been different.

But all in all, a 5/5 movie, but I'm taking half off for the child nudity

There's so much I have to say about this. I have so many thoughts about this film that it's hard to encapsulate them all in words.

First, starting with the cinematography and direction, I think that was such a strong point, unbelievably so too. The movie made you feel dirty. It was filthy, to the point where you can experience the streets of Glasgow in ur own room. There was such a weird, subtle thing about everything that it was just insanely profound. Every muscle the actors moved was important. James holds his sister closer to his face when he fights Ryan. Every bit of the movie was intentional, and it all comes together in such cohesiveness at the end, where you learn our protagonist is not reliable.

Now, for the movie itself, I have a few things I didn't like, but mostly, the movie was amazing. My biggest issue was the nudity. It was children, and I know indie movies are kinda easy going on this, but it's still off-putting seeing a 14-year-old girl or 11-year-old boy, or 7-year-old girl like that. It seems wrong, but for all intents and purposes, it wasn't horribly distracting cause its mostly a few scenes.

The other thing I absolutely loved is james sort of decent into the mental hellscape of his own mind. It was so pure, to the extent where james seemed alive in a real way. Many movies seem like acting, but James seems alive. The way he doesn't respond to strangers or people. The awkward shyness of that age its all so real.

Also, the bus sequence, I think it also showed his inner childlike curiosity, which is why he kept walking even after the bus, but I think the moment he saw the clean and empty land, his heart sank, he was seeing what he would never be. whole again.

James ' relationship with his family was so unique. he objectified his older sister, yet he "loved" his younger one by the end. I use "loved" because I think it was born of his knowledge that Anne was the same with everyone. I think both of James' friends, Anne and Kenny, kinda represent him losing himself. Anne made him feel liked and loved, and seen, but it was never him. The more he showed her to her, the emptier he got. he simply took it out of himself and gave it to her. Kenny was harder to break down because I do think Kenny represents James's innocence. His child-like state. His wonder and positivity. But Kenny is what Jame couldn't be. James tries to run towards it, but I think it died the moment Ryan died. which I think was a moment where James did end up losing both parts of himself. I think the moon scene solidified this for me. He had childlike wonder, but he had the rage of a unfulfiled lover.
Another part of this that was interesting was how James acted during the lice scene. Him being so repulsed by being pushed down (besides the obvious rebellious child phase) was a reaction to him personifying himself as Ryan. He already told Anne he was Ryan, and so his being pushed down as he did to him felt the same. I think the whole movie is James sort of manifesting Ryan in himself in a way.

The bath scene was also really interesting because you can see how James felt masculinized. After all, Anne was in an intimate position, yet James kept his place in the tub. It seems minor, but to me, that was a moment where I saw it as James taking his role as the "lover" literally in a way.

and finally the ending. I don't think there was a better way to end this movie. Starting with the cleaning scene, I think the filth was a reminder of this world's shortcomings. That humans are hazardous, we are always gonna be the disruptors and the filth. But the moment it's cleaned up. Everything gets tenfold clearer.
I know this may be a headcanon, but I think when James saw those streets, that's when he realized, beneath the filth of a person he is, he is nothing. a sort of shell, ever since Ryan died, he has done nothing but borrow emotions or exploit them.

Thus, the ending where he goes into the water, and also goes to that window from which he previously jumped out to leave, I think it shows that he dreamed of being normal. that he was just a kid who couldn't stop blaming himself.
i wish I could've been there for these people, because I know how real this is. Children accidentally kill each other or accidentally die so often. I really think if someone was there to tell him it's okay that he is allowed to live as he wants, so much would have been different.

But all in all, a 5/5 movie, but I'm taking half off for the child nudity