--- title: "The Selfish Giant" year: 2013 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-selfish-giant" fi1m_score: 88 critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 21 published: "2026-09-17T07:57:02.317154+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T07:57:02.618543+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Selfish Giant (2013) Directed by Clio Barnard · 1h 31m · MPA R · Drama **Fi1m score: 88** · Critics 78 from 21 reviews *In a sentence:* Two boys go looking for scrap metal and find adults who ought to know better > Clio Barnard’s *The Selfish Giant* is a moving drama about two Bradford boys collecting scrap metal. The plotting sometimes feels too familiar, but Conner Chapman and Shaun Thomas make the friendship difficult to forget. ## Synopsis In contemporary Bradford, Arbor (Conner Chapman) and Swifty (Shaun Thomas) scavenge scrap metal for cash. Arbor wants to earn money, and the boys’ search draws them towards Kitten (Sean Gilder) and an adult business that can use their energy. Around the estates are pylons, horses and metal with a resale value. Collecting it offers a way to get paid, but the work draws the boys into theft and exposes them to danger. Their friendship sustains them as they try to find a place in a trade where their need to earn makes them easy to exploit. ## Review Clio Barnard’s *The Selfish Giant* is a film we recommend warmly, though its account of childhood poverty sometimes follows a familiar course. It asks what an enterprising boy can do when the work available to him is collecting other people’s discarded metal. Arbor and Swifty see scrap as a way to earn, and the film takes that ambition seriously without suggesting it will make them safe. Neither boy has been made conveniently sweet for our benefit. Conner Chapman plays Arbor with an energy that can be wearing, which is one reason the performance works: poverty has not made this child obliging. He takes the prospect of getting money seriously, and his eagerness makes sense even when his judgement does not. Shaun Thomas gives Swifty a gentler presence, allowing the friendship some breathing space whenever Arbor threatens to exhaust it. We were moved by the warmth between them in the scrap-collecting scenes, because they still find pleasure in each other’s company when earning money takes up so much of their attention. Sean Gilder makes Kitten intimidating without turning him into a grand villain. The scrap trade offers something the boys can understand immediately: metal has a price, and collecting it earns money. Clio Barnard’s screenplay understands the attraction, so their early involvement does not feel like a writer simply manoeuvring children into trouble. We can see why they want the work, and how readily adults can profit from their willingness to take it. Mike Eley’s cinematography makes the Bradford estates and pylons worth looking at, even when we have plenty of reasons to want the boys elsewhere. The visual care never distracts from the hazards of the scrap collecting. Helen Scott’s production design makes this trade feel like work, with metal treated as something to collect and sell rather than picturesque rubbish. These surroundings help explain the boys’ choices: the possibility of earning is there in front of them, however little protection comes with it. Nick Fenton’s editing is strongest when it gives the boys time together, letting their companionship count for as much as the next piece of trouble. At 91 minutes, the film has little room to drift, yet these passages do not feel hurried. Harry Escott’s restrained music leaves the young actors room to make us care without much prompting. That suits performances which already make plain how much the friendship matters. The reservation is that we can sometimes recognise where this kind of social-realist story is heading before the boys can. When every opportunity looks liable to become another danger, the writing starts to feel too determined to prove how little chance these children have. That is a familiar weakness in dramas about poverty, and Clio Barnard does not always escape it. The boys’ humour and impatience do much to keep the film from settling into a succession of reasons to pity them. Anyone wary of another drama that treats poor children as helpless will find more life here than that description suggests. These boys can be funny and difficult, and neither actor keeps asking us to approve of them. See it for their performances, but leave the lighter evening for another night. *Fi1m score 88, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics respond warmly to The Selfish Giant, with praise concentrated on the young leads and Clio Barnard’s handling of their friendship amid poverty and scrap-metal dealing. The reviews repeatedly find tenderness, energy and humour in material that could have become relentlessly grim, crediting the performances with making the boys feel individual rather than merely representative of hardship. Barnard’s direction and the images of Bradford’s post-industrial landscape also draw strong approval, particularly for finding beauty without softening the surroundings. Reservations concern familiar social-realist territory and the severity of the experience, rather than the acting or visual craft. The AV Club describes the drama as conventional but vivid enough to avoid miserabilism, while The Times acknowledges familiar genre elements yet stresses how strongly the film makes its characters matter. Enthusiasm ranges from measured admiration to emphatic praise; the written responses suggest broader agreement than the spread of scores might imply. ### Reviews we read (21) - **Financial Times** (90/100, inferred): Clio Barnard finds poetry amid the pylons in a Yorkshire-set tale of two petty-thieving boys. The critic calls it one of the great modern British films, praising its moody, poetic quality and the dazzlingly honest central performance. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/2ade2cfa-3cc7-11e3-a8c4-00144feab7de) - **Screen Daily** (90/100, inferred): Barnard's fiction debut is a powerful contemporary fable about friendship, greed and exploitation that recalls the compassionate drama of Ken Loach. It is highlighted for its memorable impact and confirmation of Barnard as a major talent. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-selfish-giant/5056238.article) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): Barnard's reworking of Oscar Wilde's story is an outstanding contemporary social-realist film about two boys scavenging scrap on Bradford estates. The critic praises its passionate handling of the young leads, a hair-raising horse-and-trap drag race sequence, and its maturity as filmmaking in the tradition of Ken Loach. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/oct/24/the-selfish-giant-review) - **Empire**, Damon Wise (85/100, inferred): A terrific human drama about two boys about to be consigned to the scrapheap, with standout performances from its young leads; profoundly moving with lightness of touch despite realist elements. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/selfish-giant-review/) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (85/100, inferred): The critic describes it as a grim yet magical coming-of-age story with a vitality to its despair that keeps viewers engaged, singling out the remarkable young actors and Barnard's observant, poetic direction. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2013/12/movie-review-the-selfish-giant.html) - **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (B+): It praises Barnard's skill with child actors and her vivid, vibrant depiction of an impoverished milieu in a conventional kitchen-sink drama, noting that the film avoids feeling like miserabilism. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/clio-barnard-moves-gracefully-to-fiction-with-the-selfi-1798179027) - **Evening Standard** (80/100, inferred): Barnard’s second feature is excellent, pulsing with life; it studies the beauty and limitations of the natural-born entrepreneur in a fable that has you in bits, though grim up north it is not depressing. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-selfish-giant-film-review-8903609.html) - **Film Comment**, Emma Myers (80/100, inferred): The film blends British social realism with tenderness, focusing on the friendship between two boys drawn into scrap metal dealing. It praises the powerful performances by the nonprofessional young leads and the director's restrained handling of a potentially mawkish story. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/review-the-selfish-giant-clio-barnard/) - **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (4/4/5): Barnard's follow-up to The Arbor is a bewitching northern fable about childhood, poverty and capitalism. It is singled out for its perverse visual splendour amid the squalor and the performances of the young leads. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-selfish-giant) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (80/100, inferred): The film depicts northern England's postindustrial underclass with social realism, focusing on two boys whose friendship provides warmth amid hardship. It highlights the risks of scrap-metal scavenging in a harsh environment. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/20/movies/the-selfish-giant-directed-by-clio-barnard.html) - **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (4/5): The film is an unflinching yet warm story of two Bradford boys entangled in scrap-metal theft and danger. It is praised for its raw young actors and poetic touches reminiscent of Loach's Kes. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-selfish-giant) - **Slant Magazine**, Oscar Moralde (3/4): It lauds the film's clear-eyed social realism and nuanced look at marginal lives, praising the genuine performances from the young leads and the director's ear for language and eye for the landscape. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-selfish-giant/) - **Sight and Sound**, Jonathan Romney (70/100, inferred): Barnard offers a lyrical portrait of two boys from a deprived northern estate who turn to scrap dealing. The film is praised for its direction of the young non-professional leads and its evocation of a post-industrial landscape. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-selfish-giant) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, THR Staff (70/100, inferred): The review calls it an absorbing and ultimately moving follow-up to Barnard's debut, highlighting the strong performances by the young non-pro leads and the fresh topical angle on illicit scrap metal dealing in Yorkshire. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/selfish-giant-cannes-review-524549/) - **The Times** (70/100, inferred): Barnard's The Selfish Giant is a gruelling triumph of social realism about two Yorkshire council-estate boys drawn into scrap dealing. The critic notes its vivid images, energy in happier moments, and ability to make audiences care about the characters despite some conventional elements of the genre. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/the-selfish-giant-and-one-chance-d28x8jzgs0t) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge (70/100, inferred): Barnard's voice emerges strongly in this modern fable about a feral teen's journey, with strong performances from young leads and atmospheric visuals of Bradford's decay. It blends social realism with mythic elements in a moving, cinematic way. [Read](https://variety.com/2013/film/global/the-selfish-giant-review-1200480590/) - **The Independent** (*****): Clio Barnard’s painful fable is an angry and bleak experience, a blend of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Ken Loach and Dickens that leaves you bereft. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-and-bluray-reviews-the-selfish-giant-rush-in-a-world-the-call-a-belfast-story-9082591.html) - **HeyUGuys**, Lisa Giles-Keddie (5/5): The review highlights the raw talent of the young non-actor leads and Barnard's assured social realism in depicting the boys' friendship amid deprivation, with moments of optimism and strong cinematography standing out. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-selfish-giant-review/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B+): The critic praises the film's authentic social realism, furious compassion, and standout performances (especially Chapman as Arbor), noting its moving climax with redemption and hope that avoids pure miserabilism. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-clio-barnards-powerful-authentic-award-winner-the-selfish-giant-20131219/) - **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel (80/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as a rigorously realist departure from its Oscar Wilde inspiration, trapping fable-like elements in Northern grimness and Loachian social naturalism with no easy happy ending. It is elevated by the non-actor leads' performances and Mike Eley's lyrical cinematography. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-selfish-giant-2013-film-review-by-anton-bitel) - **The Skinny**, Danny Scott (★★★★): Barnard's second feature elevates familiar social realist territory through astonishing performances from its young leads, a sensitive screenplay, and striking cinematography of Bradford's landscapes. It positions the director as a talent worth watching. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/dvd-reviews/the-selfish-giant) ## Details - **Director:** Clio Barnard - **Director:** Clio Barnard - **Writer:** Clio Barnard - **Cinematography:** Mike Eley - **Editor:** Nick Fenton - **Music:** Harry Escott - **Production design:** Helen Scott - **Costume design:** Matthew Price - **Producer:** Tracy O'Riordan - **Cast:** Conner Chapman as Arbor; Shaun Thomas as Swifty; Sean Gilder as Kitten; Lorraine Ashbourne as Mary; Ian Burfield as Mick Brazil; Steve Evets as Price Drop Swift; Siobhan Finneran as Mrs. Swift; Ralph Ineson as Johnny Jones - **Runtime:** 1h 31m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 20 December 2013 - **Genres:** Drama - **Box office:** $12,189 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrHcLLWCVI0 ## Where to watch in the US - AMC+: streaming - Tubi: free, hd - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Apple TV: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $4.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: BE, CA, EE, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, LT, MX, NL, NO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Lux Prize 2013: Lux Prize (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Kes* (1969), Fi1m 88: A child’s care for a bird offers relief from adults who disappoint him. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kes.md) - *The Kid with a Bike* (2011): Another headstrong boy whose need for affection makes kindness difficult to accept. - *Where Is the Friend's House?* (1987): A child’s practical loyalty receives the patient attention adults rarely give it. - *Ratcatcher* (1999), Fi1m 88: Childhood friendship and poverty observed with a sharper eye than easy pity allows. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ratcatcher.md) - *Nobody Knows* (2004): Children make daily routines out of circumstances no adult should have left them. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-selfish-giant