I found this film quite amateurish. From the plot and premise to the interaction between characters. From the start of the film, one has to suspend one's disbelief and make allowance for many hard to swallow premises. (For instance a kid records the voice of the corner store clerk and plays it back to the officials - at school and social services - and convinces them that she lives with her uncle.) And one has to keep one's disbelief suspended for the entire duration of the film.
The dialogues are also contrived. The film tries to pull at your heart's strings - but it only makes you cringe. You feel sorry for the writer, the director and the actors who seem to be trying their best.
The fact that the British (?) dialect made half of what they were saying unclear to my Canadian ears did not help either.
(By the way, if one wishes to watch a good film about the bond between a kid and an adult, I strongly recommend the Icelandic film "Solitude" ) With apologies to my many British friends, I think British cinema should stick to dry comedy (Monty Python, Black Adder) and murder mysteries on trains/boats, and in centuries old mansions.
I gave it 4 stars rather than fewer because - as my spouse pointed out - it did not have guts and gore nor was it a pretentious nonsense like "Everything everywhere all the time".
The dialogues are also contrived. The film tries to pull at your heart's strings - but it only makes you cringe. You feel sorry for the writer, the director and the actors who seem to be trying their best.
The fact that the British (?) dialect made half of what they were saying unclear to my Canadian ears did not help either.
(By the way, if one wishes to watch a good film about the bond between a kid and an adult, I strongly recommend the Icelandic film "Solitude" ) With apologies to my many British friends, I think British cinema should stick to dry comedy (Monty Python, Black Adder) and murder mysteries on trains/boats, and in centuries old mansions.
I gave it 4 stars rather than fewer because - as my spouse pointed out - it did not have guts and gore nor was it a pretentious nonsense like "Everything everywhere all the time".