Customer Reviews

Boy A

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4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
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BOY A is a film that moves the audience in ways few other films do. Part of this is the subject matter, part the solid drama of the novel by Jonathan Trigell on which Mark O'Rowe based his brilliantly understated screenplay, part the sensitive direction by John Crowley, and in large part is the cast of remarkably fine actors who make this impossibly treacherous story credible.

'Boy A' refers to Eric Wilson (Alfie Owen) who was jailed for a crime with his friend with whom he was associated as a youth. He has been released from prison and under the guidance of his 'parole officer/advisor' Terry (Peter Mullan), the now young adult is renamed Jack Burridge (Andrew Garfield) to protect him from the public who still remember the heinous crime of which he was convicted: Terry warns Jack to tell no one his real identity. Jack is assigned a new family and finds new friends in this strange world outside prison walls, but he is still haunted by the crime that changed his life. How Jack relates to his first female relationship and survives the bigotry of his classmates and city folk and finds a way to hold onto life despite his childhood 'sins' forms the development of this story.

While the entire cast is excellent, Andrew Garfield's performance as the guilt ridden needy Eric/Jack is exemplary. There are many issues this film deals with in addition to the trauma of starting life over after imprisonment, issues that are universal in nature and that probe our psyches for answers that are never easily resolved here. It is a brilliant little film from the UK. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 08

Don't worry, I won't give a play-by-play of the story. I will say that it is a thoroughly touching and interesting movie that showcases the life of a young man released from prison for a childhood crime. Watching him start over is pretty remarkable. His social awkwardness coupled with his failure to move on from his haunting past, make the lead character vulnerable and relatable. I can't stress enough how watchable and interesting the concept is and how well-acted the parts are. I hate to be cheesy, but the movie will make you think. It's got a lot of dark psychological themes and well-developed characters. Additionally, it's very fast-paced as well as multi-dimensional in that it covers several facets of human emotion and human life. I honestly think that everyone would be able to take something (not necessarily the same thing) from this movie.

An incredible film. Never before have I seen and felt such emotional intimacy committed to film before this. Andrew Garfield has launched himself as an actor worthy of the BAFTA he won for this performance. I can't shake this one from my mind since seeing it in a theatre 3 weeks ago. My DVD arrived yesterday along with the book it is based upon. I need to keep it close.

Andrew Garfield's performance is one of the best of recent memory; Just brilliant! Peter Mullan also gives a fine performance. The film is good but it is the acting that makes this a must see.

An original and moving film that, because of the cast, will stay with you for a long time after viewing.

Director John Crowley has created a masterful screen adaptation of Jonathan Trigell's first novel "Boy A". It graphically chronicles Eric Wilson's attempt to establish a new life and new identity as Jack Burridge after his release from prison for a murder committed while he was a young boy. Andrew Garfield as Jack conveys his character's anguish as he struggles to lead a "normal" life, assisted by Terry, his social worker (Peter Mullan).

The close relationship between Terry and Jack is threatened by the arrival of Terry's emotionally disenfranchised son, Zeb (James Young).

Outstanding performances by Garfield and Taylor Doherty as the coldly vicious Philip Craig, Jack's juvenile co-accused, give the film a disturbing authenticity.

This exceptional film questions the possibility of redemption and explores the overpowering and corrosive influences of jealousy and prejudice.

BOY A is a gut-wrenching character study of a tormented, young ex-con who struggles to start a new life & break free of the haunting grip of his crime & troubled youth. I will avoid as many specifics about the film as possible because I think, as other reviewers do, that it's best to see it without too much advance knowledge of the plot.

Andrew Garfield is most convincing in his portrayal of BOY A, and Peter Mullan gives another of his fine performances as the case worker who does all in his power to smooth the transition from prison to society for BOY A by helping him to a assume a new identity under a federal relocation program.

NOTE: the strong accents will challenge even the best viewers of UK films; I found the subtitles helpful but not necessary to grasp the compelling, disturbing nature of this emotion-laden story.

So after seeing Andrew Garfield in The Social Network, I've decided to see how well the young man can act & after viewing this charm of a movie I was able to I've come to a conclusion that he is not a bad actor at all. Actually quite enjoyable on screen.

Boy A follows the life of "Jack Burridge" (Beautifully portrayed by Andrew Garfield), which is a mysteriously chosen name from the young man in the movie after he is being secretly released from prison due to a crime he and another boy committed when they were much younger. The amount of footage put in from the earlier times when Jack was a kid was just the right amount. Unlike a movie that would just put the first half hour as someone's childhood, the director wonderfully edited flashbacks into the film and periodically placed them into it to add more questions and build more interest to what the boys did to be incriminated when they were younger. I won't spoil anything for you because the film is fantastic and really offers that question of "Who decides who gets a second chance"? Jack Burridge has a bruised soul yet a very strong heart, but due to his lack of being nurtured properly, he is on a verge of an emotional collapse. While he is "technically" given his second chance, we follow Jack to see whether he will move on with his life or be pulled back into the life he once had, become the boy that he once was again? The film offers most of every emotion there is. Before taking a turn into becoming a psychological suspense, you are given laughter, love, hope, and a point of view of someone trying to adjust to world, tyring to work, have a girlfriend, have friends, but due to a past from his childhood, it may be tougher than expected. I recommend this for everyone, though some will differ on the ending of the film. I hope I've been helpful..

-Cam

Here's proof yet again that the Brits outshine just about everyone else in making movies, even when working with a small budget.

Andrew Garfield is superb as Jack Burridge. If there's any other young actor today who can convey angst, humor and all-out likability as well as he can, I don't know who it is.

The 100-minute running time zips by quickly. There isn't a wasted moment in the entire film. The flashback scenes are well-crafted and non-gimmicky. The characters are real. And the dialogue is quite clear -- glad to be able to leave the subtitles OFF (unlike "Red Riding Trilogy," also starring Garfield).

Highly recommended!

I was amazed by the philosophical aspects of this movie. The portrays of denied rehabilitation, the inputs of the putrefied society, the twist in roles...Its really brilliant. It reminded me of Nietzsche, and of course of Clockwork Orange. Although completely different from the Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, it also addresses the issues of the effects of rehabilitation, from the point of view of the individual. Boy A, is a great recommendation to those who perceive the world in black and white.

Boy A is diabolically affecting, and its societal dictum is as strong and significant as any in cinema over the last few years.

You may not know the name Andrew Garfield, but that's irrelevant. You will. At age 26 and with a couple studio titles to his résumé (Lions for Lambs, The Other Boleyn Girl), he has attained a level of dramatic portrayal that takes some a lifetime and escapes others completely. The vessel for this breakout is director John Crowley's Boy A, the deeply tragic story of a rehabilitated ex-convict (Garfield)--dubbed "Boy A" in his juvenile case. Boy A is forced into leading a hidden life to protect himself from the social discrepancies that would otherwise hinder, maybe even destroy his chance at normality, success, and happiness.

As Crowley's second feature film (his first was 2003's Intermission, starring Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy), Boy A is astoundingly salient and equally persuasive, as are the actors, who improve its status from great to essential. But even before the force of its thespians hits, the film wins with the vitality of its writing and, specifically, the point it's set on hitting, which is best got at in its promotional tagline: "Who decides who gets a second chance?" The viewer is left to summon his or her own conclusion--perhaps the most distinguishably mature act of Crowley's adaptation--though it surely won't be considered an easy one, for the character that Garfield creates is so lushly endearing in his coyness and nervousness that the picture's audience will have a near-impossible time believing he ever had involvement in the heavy crime he's charged with.

And that's the brilliance of Boy A (and Andrew Garfield's role). Is the movie's focal study reformed or was he ever a monster to begin with? The provocation of such a topic is consuming, and John Crowley constructs the film in a way that maximizes its power, which is no less than shattering in its totality. Based on the novel by Jonathan Trigell, Boy is a regimented political and social voice--willed by the demand of today's society--that adheres to the world's paradoxes and contradictions and keeps screaming until they've been fixed and announced. It also happens to be one of the most heartbreaking films I've seen in a while. It made a mess out of me.