Urchin
Harris Dickinson made his Cannes debut three years ago as the lead in Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness. The film mocked the rich and privileged, yet it was celebrated – awarded the Palme d’Or, even – by an audience made up almost entirely of that very group. Now Dickinson is back at the festival, this time as a director, and his first feature in this role centres on someone at the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum.
Mike sleeps on the streets of London. A violent incident lands him in prison, where he manages to get sober. After his release, he has the sincerest intentions of turning his life around – but there are limits to both the system’s rehabilitation strategies and the proverbial bootstraps.
Any hesitation over whether a 28-year-old shooting star is the right person to tell the story of someone who has fallen through the cracks is dispelled within the first five minutes. The Babygirl actor displays profound empathy for his protagonist’s reality and a firm grasp of his subject matter. Minute details of Mike’s way of life – and how it has shaped his behaviour – are consistent and insightful. Dickinson himself takes a small role as another rough sleeper, and no sooner does he tell Mike, “There is one rule for you and one for everybody else,” than the audience begins to see how this imbalance takes shape. Yet even in moments of hypocrisy, the film never treats its protagonist with judgement or disdain.
To portray Mike, Dickinson cast London-born Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’s Tom Riddle), who plays the role almost too convincingly not to worry about him. After Mike has weaned himself off drugs, Dillane brings a restless energy to his performance – an unspoken physicality that communicates how uncomfortable the character is simply being himself and left alone with his thoughts.
The cinematography is versatile, marked by a penchant for slow zoom-ins on long takes and in-shot re-framing that feels deliberate and guides the viewer’s gaze. An early scene nods to both Trainspotting and Blue Velvet, yet it feels entirely original – serving the film’s purpose rather than coming off as merely referential.
Composed of raw emotion and marked by a commitment to sit with a character through both his best and worst behaviour, Urchin is a remarkably assured directorial debut. If Dickinson continues on this path as a filmmaker, his name could well join the ranks of those shaping contemporary British realism.
Selina Sondermann
Urchin does not have a release date yet.
Read more reviews from our Cannes Film Festival coverage here.
For further information about the event visit the Cannes Film Festival website here.
Watch the trailer for Urchin here:
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