As a portrait of stasis brought on by poverty and a study of youthful abandon gone sour in the face of zero opportunities, this is sensitive stuff, even if there's little that's surprising.

| Original Score: 3/6 | Dec 5, 2008

Glenaan's spare film, set on a council estate in Bolsover, shows how dreams are cruelly extinguished, yet little bits of surreal magic illuminate this tough film with glimmers of hope.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

There are a few literal-minded scene-by-scene explanations too many; how undiagnosed dyslexia made a bad kid out of Shaun. It's a shame as they put the emotional heart of film at arm's-length.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

A quiet film to inspire quiet admiration, Kenny Glenaan's wistful character piece has a lovely asset in Robert Carlyle - often a careless chooser of parts, but a gentle, sensitive actor in his element here.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 5, 2008

Carlyle is exemplary. As the grown-up dyslexic tending a dying boyhood friend (Evets) he mints extra "dialogue" - the kind not written down - with each facial response.

| Dec 5, 2008

Some decent performances but not enough that's distinctive to earn a recommendation.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 5, 2008