1999 · drama
Ratcatcher
Directed by Lynne Ramsay1h 34m1999
James Gillespie is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne, a vulnerable 14 year old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny, who possesses an unusual innocence in spite of the harsh surroundings.
Our read: Ratcatcher (1999) reads as a heavy, slow-burn, grounded drama entry — measured in intensity, intimate in scope, measured in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature.
Heavy, slow-burn, measured drama, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, measured.
- heavy
- slow-burn
- bleak
- signature
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How Ratcatcher feels to watch.
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What watching it is actually like.
“You want lyrical Scottish poverty poetry that's beautiful and brutally hard.”
Skip it tonight — Kids in peril, animal cruelty, or child nudity will ruin your night.
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