Best Films of the 2010s: The Selfish Giant

Lists are beautiful. Films are beautiful. Opinions are subjective. Some films that we see now- some made for kids, some made in other languages, some made in 'trashy' genres- will one day become classics. Which ones? Here's my entirely subjective gaze into the crystal ball with my picks of the best films of the 2010s...

The Selfish Giant

  

The Selfish Giant introduces us to Arbor and Swifty, two boys with fragile family situations whose Bradford homes are in constant danger of being repossessed. Excluded from school, Arbor tries to help his mum pay her debts by stealing and selling scrap metal, dragging Swifty along with him. The tough, unscrupulous junkyard boss they deal with exploits their labour, sending them on increasingly dangerous jobs. But he also owns a horse and races it against a rival’s for money. Swifty is a natural with animals and looking after the horse offers him an uncomplicated, innocent bond. In a world dominated by drugs, violence and the relentless pursuit of cash, what emerges is the importance of finding something alive to love and clinging to it.

     Soundtracked by the air-warping throb of power lines, the film offers up indelible images, such as Arbor riding the horse and cart up to the doors of his school, a gobby little lord surveying his kingdom. For some unfathomable reason his teachers are not impressed. He loves these power games, later cheekily telling a policeman to take his shoes off while he’s in his family’s home. The brilliance of the non-professional child actors is everything here and makes this a luminous, beautiful slice of life, even as the narrative hurtles on towards its climax. Director Clio Barnard should be acclaimed for her mastery of all aspects of filmmaking.

Next time: fewer horses, but perhaps a rogue elephant.