Babygirl and Triangle of Unhappiness superstar Harris Dickinson makes his directorial debut with Urchin, a uncooked, humanising portrait of homelessness and the cycle of dependancy that he additionally wrote and cameos in.
Within the movie, we meet a valiantly positive younger Londoner referred to as Mike (Frank Dillane, Concern the Strolling Lifeless, The Essex Serpent), whose makes an attempt to search out and deal with safe housing are undercut through a cycle of self-destructive movements and a relapse into substance abuse. As Dillane embodies Mike’s private adventure via an impeccable efficiency, Dickinson brings the statistics to lifestyles — in line with Monetary Occasions by way of The Large Factor, one in each 200 families in the United Kingdom is experiencing homelessness — whilst elevating consciousness of the problem.
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Drawing on his personal studies rising up round other folks experiencing dependancy, Dickinson rejects a catch-all illustration of an individual experiencing housing and fiscal instability, as an alternative specializing in the weather that make his protagonist’s scenario distinctive. The result’s a formidable, explicit, and prone movie about tough cases and harsh cycles.
What’s Urchin about?
Credit score: Picturehouse Leisure
Hinging on a posh efficiency through very good lead Frank Dillane, Urchin sees Dickinson reject clichés regularly used to painting other folks experiencing housing instability. Mike is a misplaced however fascinating younger guy who takes pains to hook up with the group, even within the chilly bustle of inner-city London. He has semi-secure spots to stash his property all over the day, and enjoys a talk with everybody from his outdated good friend (performed through Dickinson) to charity store attendants to The Large Factor distributors.
Alternatively, when our protagonist commits a surprising, determined act of violence in opposition to a serving to hand (Simon (Okezie Morro)), he is arrested, launched on probation, assigned brief housing, and will have to attempt to hang down a disturbing activity in a resort kitchen to stay a roof over his head. Regardless that Mike tries to get again on his ft, taking note of mindfulness CDs, and assembly new supportive buddies, he is additionally pulled again right into a self-destructive trail of outdated conduct and substance abuse as his monetary and lodging choices dwindle.
Right here, Dickinson additionally dips into the strained UK council device itself via Mike’s studies with government-funded brief housing. File numbers of families live in brief lodging in England in 2025, with over 300,000 looking forward to asked council give a boost to to stop or relieve homelessness. Mike is aware of the program of eligibility and precedence out and in, and is continuously looking at time run out on safe housing and unsure the place he’s going to be headed subsequent.
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However once more, it is Dickinson’s center of attention on Mike as an individual that humanises such statistics and offers us distinctive perception into the placement.
Harris Dickinson tells a uncooked, humorous, and humanising tale
Harris Dickinson wrote, directed, and acts in “Urchin.”
Credit score: Picturehouse Leisure
Whilst Dickinson undeniably attracts inspiration from iconic British filmmakers like Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, and Shane Meadows, his way and writing is much less heavy than his famously bleak social realist predecessors, particularly with Dillane’s regularly comedic efficiency. Dickinson attracts on his personal revel in now not most effective of rising up round other folks experiencing dependancy but additionally of operating with homelessness charities in London. Having grown up in London, Dickinson has labored with refuge Mission Parker and with homelessness charity Beneath One Sky, setting up its Hackney bankruptcy. (Dillane has additionally labored with Beneath One Sky and London’s Unmarried Homeless Mission.) With this information, Dickinson and Dillane set up to search out moments of comedy and vulnerability amid the seriousness, boosting Urchin‘s sense of authenticity.
There is a robust emphasis on Mike’s day-to-day London lifestyles. Dickinson regularly has director of images Josée Deshaies apply Mike from around the side road, an impact that sees our protagonist swallowed within the capital’s feature commotion, or we find him within the mayhem via a hypnotic sluggish zoom. Manufacturing clothier Anna Rhodes and sound clothier Ian Wilson craft an in an instant acquainted London, with side road scenes reinforced through the roar of site visitors and the sound of an earnest preacher. Dickinson leans sparingly on Alan Myson’s mesmerising digital rating, but if it hits, it hits.
Particularly, Dickinson does not in reality allow us to into Mike’s previous and the complicated the explanation why an individual would possibly transform homeless — all we get from the nature is “it is sophisticated.” As a substitute, the director specializes in Mike’s fragile provide, his water-treading movements — whether or not they are the most efficient concepts or now not. As he makes an attempt to search out his footing, Mike’s pull towards outdated vices turns into overwhelming. And it is this inside pressure that attracts out a phenomenal efficiency from Dillane.
Frank Dillane offers an impeccable efficiency in Urchin
Frank Dillane brings levity and rawness to Mike.
Credit score: Picturehouse Leisure
In spite of being continuously moved alongside, overpassed, and having to craft his personal sense of balance and keep watch over, Mike’s talent to allure and hook up with other folks even in his darkest days offers Dillane masses to paintings with. Mike’s emotional and psychological state fluctuates all the way through the movie, however Dillane identifies the moments of levity and humour in Dickinson’s script to stay Urchin on its ft.
The place we see Mike at his perfect is making new buddies like Andrea (Megan Northam), whom he meets in an informal clutter pickup gig at the South Financial institution, and his fellow resort kitchen body of workers, who ship the sweetest series within the movie, involving karaoke, sparklers, and past due night time sizzling chips. Dickinson additionally puts emphasis at the disrespect Mike studies from privileged fellow Londoners, from diners making pompous calls for of him to other folks in the street who’re reluctant to recognize him in any respect. In those moments, Dickinson remains with Mike’s response, absolutely keen on Dillane conveying Mike’s inside turmoil and comprehensible frustration at compelled subservience or invisibility.
Via this complicated and unique efficiency from Dillane, captured via Deshaies’ beautiful cinematography, Dickinson builds a particular and human portrait of homelessness. The continuing value of residing disaster and the housing disaster manner homelessness is attaining vital ranges in the United Kingdom, with actual other folks’s lives sitting at the back of each and every statistic — in spite of former house secretary Suella Braverman’s offensive feedback describing tough snoozing as a “way of life selection.” What Dickinson brilliantly manages to do is just display one individual going via it, making an attempt to damage his cycle of self-destructive behaviour whilst making an attempt to discover a safe residing scenario. It is a robust reminder that Mike might be any folks.
Urchin premieres in the United Kingdom on Sept. 22 prior to hitting cinemas Oct. 3.
