The Selfish Giant

Synopsis: An official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, The Selfish Giant is a contemporary fable about 13 year old Arbor (Conner Chapman) and his best friend Swifty (Shaun Thomas). Excluded from school and outsiders in their own neighborhood, the two boys meet Kitten (Sean Gilder), a local scrap dealer. Wandering their town with just a horse and a cart, they begin collecting scrap metal for him. Swifty has a natural gift with horses while Arbor emulates Kitten - keen to impress him and make some money. However, Kitten favors Swifty, leaving Arbor feeling hurt and excluded, driving a wedge between the boys. As Arbor becomes increasingly greedy and exploitative, tensions build, leading to a tragic event that transforms them all.

Genre: Drama

Director(s): Clio Barnard

Actors: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Ralph Ineson, Ian Burfield

Production: Sundance Selects

12 wins & 18 nominations.


IMDB:: 7.3
Metacritic:: 83
Rotten Tomatoes:: 97%

Collection Edit Watch PDF Buy

: NOT RATED
Year:: 2013
: 91 min
: $12,189
: Website
: 90 Views

Can't stand you!
Bastard!
- Chill out.
It's me.
- Calm down, Arbor.
- F*cking get off!
- Just chill.
Arbor.
- Get off!
Get off!
- Arbor, it's me.
It's Swifty.
- Chill out.
You're off your head, you,
aren't you?
F*cking mad head, you.
Gonna come out?
- Want some?
- Yeah.
Here.
- Friends.
- Friends.
- What are them torches
down there?
- Is that railway
people or pol-
- Shit. Get down.
Get down.
What are they doing?
- F*ck knows.
Should I go have a look?
- No, wait here.
I want to see what
they're doing.
- Come on, we'll go look.
- Go on, then.
Oh, shit.
- Yeah.
I'm almost there, yeah.
Yeah.
Tools.
Definitely.
Get some of your boys
down here now, yeah?
- Oy! F*ck off!
- Hey!
Hey!
- Go, go, go!
- You thieving little bastards!
- Let us in!
- Oh, he's coming now.
He's got a big ax.
- We're not open yet!
Who the f*ck are you?
What do you want?
Is that my-
What the f*ck are you doing
with my f*cking horse?
- What's that?
Where'd you get that?
- It's cable.
We found it.
- Oh, yeah?
Get off my f*cking horse!
Take it inside.
- Would you put the ax down?
What the hell's going on?
- Found these two at the gate
with Tommy.
- We lent him,
went for a ride for a laugh.
Didn't know he were your horse.
He were tethered up
in that field.
We got you some cable, though,
don't we?
- Right, bring it in here.
- What?
- It's all right.
- Away, lad.
- Come on. Simba!
Come on!
Every twat knows,
you've got to strip it
before I can take it
'cause the number on casing.
See that?
Bright wire.
- You burn it off
if it's marked.
- What do you mean "marked"?
- That's what I mean, marked.
Look at yous.
All over you.
Hands.
- How did we get that?
- SmartWater.
Don't ever come back here
with that shite on you.
Out.
Here.
Go on.
- We'll strip it next time.
Do it proper.
Burn it off.
- There won't be a next time.
Now f*ck off.
- You lot, up.
F*cking hell.
Have one
of your little freak-outs
last night, spazzy boy?
- F*ck off, you crackhead.
Tell you what.
This is the first night
I've not seen
you and your boyfriend
f*cking spooning.
Why is this smelly pikey
on my floor, anyway?
What are you doing?
- F*ck off, you druggy bastard.
- "F*ck off,
you druggy bastard"?
How about you f*ck off,
you pikey bastard?
- Martin!
- Get him a horse and cart...
- Leave him alone!
- And get him out the house.
Pikey scruff.
- Shut up!
Just ignore him Swifty, love.
You're always welcome here.
- I don't want a skanky Swift
in my house.
- Will you shut up?
It's not your house!
- I can smell him!
I can f*cking smell him.
Move him.
- Will you get up?
We got an appointment
at clinic.
And no messing me about
this time.
You're going.
You two, can you get up, please?
Not again.
Truancy fine.
Sorry, Mum.
- I can't see no stains.
- Remember when Kitten put
that torch on us?
We could see it.
- What are you doing?
- Nowt.
- Since when did you put
your own clothes in wash?
- Don't know, Mum.
- Today.
- I earned you some money
for that fine.
- Where'd you get that?
- Just said I earned it.
- Tell me where you got it from!
I worked my arse off,
yeah, for this.
For you, yeah?
And you don't even accept it!
You ungrateful bastard!
- I'm not ungrateful.
- F*ck off!
- Arbor, I'm just saying.
- F*ck off!
F*ck's sake!
- I just want you to go-
- F*ck's sake!
- If you'd go to school
in first place-
- Don't want to!
- All right, all right!
Have you taken your tablet?
- Yeah, I f*cking have!
- Has he?
Oh, not again.
Martin!
Get in here!
- What?
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Clio Barnard

Clio Barnard is a British director of documentary and feature films. She won widespread critical acclaim and multiple awards for her debut, The Arbor, an experimental documentary about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. In 2013 she was hailed as a significant new voice in British cinema for her film The Selfish Giant, which premiered in the Director's Fortnight section of the Cannes film festival. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018