Member review

Preceding her critically-acclaimed 2011 psychological dramatic thriller 'We Need to Talk About Kevin', an adaptation of Lionel Shriver's novel, Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay directed an original screenplay of her own creation with the 1999 comedy-drama 'Ratcatcher', a bleak and poignant observation of Glasweigian lower-middle-class life during the 1970s which follows the exploits of James (William Eadie), a 12 year-old boy who seeks to explore the stretches of his local Scottish area in order to overcome a sense of guilt following the accidental drowning of his friend Ryan Quinn (Thomas McTaggert) in a canal. From the get-go, 'Ratcatcher''s status as an example of low-budget independent filmmaking is immediately recognisable from its cinematography being staunchly adverse to the bright lights of any slick American production. Instead, director Lynne Ramsay chooses to film with a starkly natural colour palette of swirling and interweaving greys, blues, whites and greens, the grubb and grit of the surrounding environments almost seeming to wipe off on the audience as the camera alternately rushes down faded corridors of dilapidated housing before tracking slowly in and out of concrete streets or panning across interior constructions. Instinctly, it is these environments which further add to 'Ratcatcher''s growing sense of unadmirability: an atmosphere of safety appears unlikely to be found throughout as the outside streets and fields of the Glasgow setting are presented as being lain with piling-up black binbags crawling with vermin both animalistic and viciously humanistic as rats and mice seem to scurry along with mischievous scrunched-eyed children, while the indoor settings of darkened and rotting counsil housing offer naught but increasing claustrophobia as their grimy walls seem to close in on the audience as Ramsay slides among their passages. Arguably, it is this sense of claustrophobia which later helped influence her excellent directing of 2011's 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'. Of course in this instance, Ramsay's directorial style is consistently admirable in of itself, in that she captures the unfolding events around the film's narrative locations as if her camera were designed to not merely film a story, but capture the instantly occuring naturality of common social and human life. Furthermore, Ramsay's unflinchingly natural methods help in constructing a graspable narrative around the Glasweigian setting as we follow 12 year-old James Gillepsie, acted stunningly by William Eadie giving a practically tour-de-force performance, as he struggles to overcome guilt and grief following his friend Ryan's death in their local canal. Throughout the unfolding narrative, the audience examines William in his personal journey of self-discovery and redemption as he saunters down and through the winding paths of his dampened, binbag-laden area: it is with Ramsay's directorial style that William almost seems to diverge on the fine line of being the audience's observational experiment and a genuinely well-developed character, yet he remains consistently likable all the while he is shown to divulge in a manner of activities both mundane and questionable, whether it be frequenting with the local gang of bullies who seek nothing but to cause mindless destruction to their street's inhabitants, or travelling on a bus to unknown construction sites where he can experience personal freedom and harmony from the unrelenting torment of his social life. A scene in which James runs among an expanisve sun-pattenred field of wheat after finding a renovated house adds to a particular dash of hope for his character. The torment itself observedly comes from his family, with younger sister Anne-Marie (Lynne Ramsay Jr.) telling on him for minor offences, and parents George (Tommy Flanagan) and Anne (Mandy Matthews) casting a frequently untrustworthy and somewhat undesirable eye over his behaviour: Ramsay's guidance appears evident through the family's argumentative discussions and life playing out with a surprising degree of realism and relatability, the accompanying dialogue being altogether strengthened by the cast's absorbing naturality, in particular Tommy Flanagan's performance as James' drunken and misjudging father George, who seems to never be able to fully trust his young son's motivation following his friend's accidental death. The sense of drama is heavily present among the family's arguments and James' social life is often a combination of powerful and striking poignancy, which when added to the unflinching sense of claustrophobia presents a bleak and depressing view of 70s society for the audience; luckily, director Ramsay balances this out with an uncommon, yet appreciative infusion of humour both charming and bizarre in regard to the film's characters. For example in one particularly notable scene, James and his newfound female friend Margaret Anne share a bath together. Ramsay injects a dose of fun childishness through James and Margaret beginning a soap fight before Margaret, wonderfully acted by Leanne Mullen, exits the bath to use the toilet: in a rare moment, the scene's casual display of adolescent nudity takes what should have been an arguably cringe-inducing or embarassing experience for the audience and twists it into something unexpectedly funny and sweet through acknowledging James and Margaret's growing romanticism towards one another, again an example of Ramsay's admirable unflappability in regards to her realism-infused directing style. Also notable is an earlier scene in which James' lovably eccentric animal-loving friend Kenny (John Miller) is tormented by the local bullies, who throw his pet white mouse around to make it 'fly': the scene itself becomes questionnably cruel when Kenny succumbs to the boys' pressure and ties his mouse to a balloon and yet, as it is carried off into the sky, a sense of bizarrely humourously charm befuddles and overwhelms the audience as the mouse is shown to float above Earth before landing on the Moon, populated by many other mice in a clever reference to the 1970s children's animation 'The Clangers', thereby enhancing the sense of playful adolescence around the film's young protagonists. Overall, there are some elements which are not entirely expanded upon throughout the film: it is never fully explained where James' elder sister Ellen disappears to when she gets on the local bus, and neither is James and Margaret's growing relationship fully expanded to satisfy the audience resolutely. In spite of these faults, however, 'Ratcatcher' is a fine example of modern British filmmaking, with director Lynne Ramsay working to her earlier finest, William Eadie giving an excellent central leading performance as 12 year-old James, and the film's ending being both memorably tragic and stirring.