Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

LouieInLove As someone born into a world not too dissimilar from the one presented in this film, I'm well placed to voice an opinion.When you're a kid, having very little is not an issue. That's not to say you can't comprehend lack of material possession, it's more that you just don't care. You settle into your world with consummate ease and find the joy, the humour and beauty there within. I for one laughed far more as a child with nothing as I do an adult with all the trappings of modern life. Those from outside this world may be shocked or scared by it. However, when it's all you know there is nothing dour or dark there, only a realm of discovery to be experienced like every other child and Lynne Ramsay bottles this essence of youth to perfection.Ratcather is visually stunning and the story is played out with an expert touch managing to capture a unique glimpse into a very Scottish time and place. I have read other reviews and many use negative adjectives in relation to the world in which this film is set. However I saw nothing but beauty and positives in this reality so similar to the one I once knew. As for the cruelty, well life can be cruel.Love fae Leith

Bryan Hargrave All the praise heaped on this film puzzles me. I found the cinematography to be beautiful, but the storyline, once established, droned on and on with no end in sight. That might have been the point, however. One positive is although it contains the stereotypical drunk father, at least he wasn't physically abusive. You are left with a general sense of pity for many of the characters, but the mood is passive. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be appalled by the poverty or accepting of it. I think the director failed to connect the characters, and in turn kept the audience from connecting. The ending was a leaden mishmash of fantasy and overt symbolism. Not recommended. I understand that this film is semi-biographical, but I felt left out in the cold.

shneur This is a powerful movie about a boy who is relentlessly ground down by the oppressive circumstances of his life. Poverty, neglect and rejection are his personal environment, set within a larger picture of crumbling social structures and economic chaos. Other characters do reach out to him in various ways, including sexual, but their overtures, as mostly everyone's, are rooted in their own needs. The protagonist has learned from hard experience to be suspicious of the self-involved people around him, so he's unable to respond to any of these "half a loaf" offers. Even the fact that this is a movie IN English that requires English SUBTITLES contributes to the sense of alienation. This film is drama, not entertainment. Of course I can't tell you about the ending, but I will say that I had to rewind the tape and watch it again just to make sure I had really seen what I'd seen. I won't soon forget "Ratcatcher."

thecomputersaysno Ratcatcher tells the story of a young boy, James, on a Glasgow estate, wracked with guilt over a friend's death and faced with a future that seems already mapped out for him.Set against bin man strikes in the 1970's, with black rubbish bags strewn across the grim urban wasteland and rowdy bullies always around the corner, Ramsey's film creates a bleak vision of this era for a boy's upbringing. The film follows James and observes the relationship with his parents and peers and how he creates hope when there appears little.The visions of hope can be seen throughout, but only, like James, if you take the effort to explore or look closely; the field, the bus driver, the medal, the teenage girl, the shoes, the glasses, the mouse etc. Ratcatcher contains some super images, my favourite being James upon the sofa (I won't spoil it, watch it and see).If you're really into this type of bleakness, why not create a double bill with "Young Adam"? It may not appear the most cheery of films, but you can't help caring about James and sharing some hope.