I’ve seen a lot of films about homeless or displaced people in my day. It’s a popular topic in Hollywood. I guess the drama or comedy that comes with being homeless or displaced is something that screenwriters find easy to write about. The Fisher King, The Pursuit of Happiness, and The Soloist are a few that come to mind. All of these films have one thing in common besides the homelessness or being displaced factor. They all have fantastic performances from the stars who act in them.These types of movies pull at the heartstrings, so I guess that can get a great performance out of the actors who play the characters in said films. That’s the case here with Urchin starring Frank Dillane as well.

Mike (Frank Dillane, The Essex Serpent) is a young man in London, England, who has been displaced from his home for five days. He’s sleeping on the streets. He only has one friend, Nathan (Harris Dickinson, Babygirl), and he steals his wallet. In a desperate move to get some money, he befriends a Black man after he steps in to stop Mike and Nathan from fighting with each other. Once they start walking towards a restaurant so the man can buy Frank a hot meal, he punches him and steals all of his money. Later on, he gets arrested and put into police custody. Because he doesn’t have a record, he is let go under the cognisance of a social worker who helps him get a place to stay and a job. His own worse self-destructive behavior causes him to constantly have problems.

I haven’t seen Dillane in much lately, but he has done a lot of television work on The Fear Walking Dead, Joan, and Renegade Nell. Also, he has played Young Voldemort in a couple of the Harry Potter films. He’s a decent enough actor, but he goes to another level in this film. His personality as an actor comes through in his performance. He has an infectious personality, and people tend to like him until he eventually self districts and reverts back to his drug addictive ways. This is a theme throughout the movie. Every time something good happens for him, he screws it up by doing something stupid. He loses his job, his place of living, and most of all, a girl who is trying to be his friend. All because of his predations of doing drugs and drinking alcohol. Dillane kills this performance as this man who is doomed to fail because of his own ignorant nature.

Dickinson has been a good young actor in movies such as Blitz, Triangle of Sadness, and The Iron Claw. He brings an emotional realism to his roles. That’s why he keeps getting cast over and over. This is his directorial debut, though, and I’m sure it took something special like this for him to get in the directors chair. Directing isn’t for everybody, but more and more actors have started directing recently. I saw Eleanor the Great, directed by Scarlett Johansson recently. That was fantastic. And it was her first directing job as well. Dickinson has an interesting style to the way he directs.There is a kinetic energy to his directing style. The film is very fast-paced even when it slows down to take a breath. He wants the viewer to feel the fast-paced nature of this man’s life. I definitely felt the struggle this man was going through. I sensed it in the directing as well. Every day is a constant struggle to survive, and Dickinson captured that very well in this movie.

The supporting cast is all pretty good in this film. As mentioned, Dickinson, the director, plays a small character, but he assembled a nice cast around the Dillane character. The social worker lady was played by Shonagh Marie. I loved how she genuinely cared about the Dillane character but warned him that if he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to, there are consequences. She is very friendly towards him even though she has a serious job to do for the government. Megan Northam plays a girl that the Dillane character meets while he’s picking up trash in parks. She instantly likes him, and they hit it off. They go out and have a good time, but he alienates her because of his bad behavior. She was the one person who would have truly helped him out of the circumstances he was in. Amir Waked plays a restaurant owner who gives the Dillane character a job, but like everybody else, he gets fed up with his troublemaking ways. Even he has to cut the cord. It’s sad because he was learning a trade he could have used to better his life. This was a good supporting cast that did what they were supposed to do to support the main character.

I understand a little of what the Dillane character is going through. I struggle every month to pay my rent, and I’ve been very close to being thrown out of my home many times. I’ve also slept on my friends’ couches or in their spare rooms on more than one occasion. Part of that was because I was an alcoholic. I spent most of my free time drinking at bars and not caring about my job. That started my downhill slide. No,  I don’t do drugs, but I have an issue upsetting people for some reason. I make friends with people, and then I somehow find a way to alienate people who genuinely care about me.This reminded me of this character quite a bit. We had a lot in common in some of these ways. I’ve also tried to help myself out by stopping drinking. I’ve been sober for 12 years now. You can get all the help you want, but if you aren’t willing to help yourself, it doesn’t do any good. This film is a prime example of that. Dickinson captured this in the script and direction exceptionally well.

One particular scene I thought looked a little familiar was a scene involving the Dillane character looking into a mirror and flexing a bit. And then he started to throw his fists in the air and said “you want some of this”. That reminded me a bit of the Taxi Driver scene where Robert DeNiro says “You Talkin To Me. You Must Be Talking To Me Because There Is No One Here.” That is a classic scene, and It makes sense that Dickinson would ape it for this movie and this character. He’s a similar type of character as Travis Bickle. Very self-destructive and selfish at times. You can see Dickinson’s influences right off the bat. If he is inspired by Martin Scorsese, that is a good sign.

Urchin hit home for me in more than one way. When I see a movie like this that puts a mirror up to my own life in this way, it impresses me. Dickinson captured the nature of this man and his problems perfectly well on screen. I felt like I was looking at myself in some ways. Others not so much. Dillane is an amazing young actor who I would love to see in more films in the future. Not in supporting roles but in lead roles like this one. He owned the screen in this film. The supporting cast was also good. The real champion here is Dickinson, who came from in front of the camera to behind and did a great job. I look forward to seeing what he does next in his burgeoning directing career.

4 stars

Dan Skip Allen