Unrated | 1h 24m | Dramedy | August 25, 2023
“Scrapper” just won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. It’s a sweet, mostly lighthearted dramedy, featuring rapid-fire, witty repartee with impeccable comedic timing, and its little lead actress, Lola Campbell, looks from certain angles like a tiny, blond Emily Blunt.
The Scrapper
Highly precocious 12-year-old Georgie (Campbell) has morphed into the titular scrapper. She’s become a wee grifter who, while systematically working herself through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (the ubiquitous five stages of grief) in the wake of her beloved mother’s death from an unknown illness, has decided to tackle life on her own. She continues living in their flat in the Limes Farm housing estate in Chigwell, in Essex, England.
Georgie supports herself by stealing and reselling bicycles with her little buddy Ali (Alin Uzun). When her school and social services call her up to check in, she selects from a list of faux phone recordings solicited from the local “voice-over talent” (a turbaned, teenage, grocery store cashier pretending to be her uncle-who-provides-care-at-home). Said fictitious uncle is curiously named Winston Churchill. The barely interested authorities never bother to follow up.
Georgie cleans the house obsessively and painstakingly crosses off the stages of grief, but her hyper-controlled existence gets a monkey wrench thrown into it when a young man breaks into her flat. This would be Jason (Harris Dickinson), her long-lost, estranged birth-dad.
Georgie’s naturally wary of him, and trust does not come easily. There’s the issue of why he’s appeared after being a deadbeat dad all these years. He brags to Ali that he’s been living in Spain, where the chicks are hotter. This doesn’t help matters.
But soon, father and daughter figure out that they have quite a lot in common. Especially fun is when Jason introduces his daughter to a game he used to play with her mom, where they look at distant couples talking and invent dialogue to go with the gesticulations. This is hilarious. He even goes with her on a bike-stealing spree but experiences a lock-picking fail, and the two hightail it into the maze of neighborhood backyards to escape the outraged, pursuing bobbies.
Summing Up
“Scrapper” is a hoot—lightweight, but surprisingly potent when it focuses on the reality of the situation: a traumatized, lonely little girl doing the best she can to survive after bearing a ridiculous amount of grief. It comes down more on the side of the whimsical and the magical than on social realism, so it’s good for children.
Somewhat reminiscent of 1973’s “Paper Moon,” the zany father-daughter combo, while not entirely believable, is very cute, especially to the American ear, with British-isms like: Whot shou’ we do nay-ow? Shou’ we maiybe ‘ave a cuhhd-oo? (cuddle).
At the heart of “Scrapper” is the very impressive performance of Lola Campbell, whose street-smart yakkity-yakking is in hilarious contrast with her baby face. Harris Dickinson, who had a starring role in Ruben Östlund’s 2022 Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness,” is very believable and touching as the man-child-deadbeat-dad, trying, at long last, with no form of guidance to provide guidance to his daughter.
An impressive debut feature from director Charlotte Regan, “Scrapper” is a genuinely funny and heartwarming family drama.
‘Scrapper’
Director: Charlotte Regan
Starring: Harris Dickinson, Lola Campbell, Alin Uzun, Ayokunle Oyesanwo, Ayobami Oyesabwo, Ayooluwa Oyesanwo
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 1 hour, 24 minutes
Release Date: Aug. 25, 2023
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
