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Scrapper takes us back to the days when you’re a kid and you go round to your friends’ houses, asking if they’re playing out. However, for Georgie (Lola Campbell) and Ali (Alin Uzun), this involves stealing bikes to sell on… until they get caught in the act by one of the owners, even if they are quite entreprenurial about it – as you can see in the clip below.
They make various excuses to skip school, with her even asking a lad running a shop record set lines of dialogue on her phone, so she can play these back to her school, but who’s he pretending to be? Well, given that Georgie’s mother has passed away, she lies to the school that her uncle is living with her and taking care of her. His name? Winston Churchill. Yes, I’m sure that’ll work.
Meanwhile, Dad Jason (Harris Dickinson – See How They Run) turns up, after hearing what’s happened, even though he hasn’t seen Georgie since she was born. He’s 30, so was only 18 when he left – around the time she was born, as her mother pushed him out. Now he’s here, she’s upset about no longer having control of the house, so they have to learn to rub along together, and it’s quite sweet as they go through the forced process.
As some asides, there are some 4:3-ratio person-to-camera vox pops from various members of the community, pertaining to certain situations that arise; and Georgie also refuses to hoover up the spiders in the house, which end up having their own vignetts, even in this short 84-minute movie.
Additionally, this was a Cineworld Secret Screening, so unless you follow the clues online from Odeon, who will be showing the same film, you have no idea what it’ll be until the BBFC title card appears. As such, there were 9 walkouts, although that’s a small number compared to other films I’ve seen like this.
I did enjoy Scrapper, although I did see one comment on Reddit, which was true, in that you could go to any indie film festival, throw a rock and hit a dozen similar films being promoted. Also, sometimes the dialogue was a bit muffled/not completely clear, so another viewing would be good, say, when it’s on Blu-ray with subtitles.
There were nearly 11 walkouts, however, since the same rotund bloke with his wife, sat right at the front, who got up as soon as “Talk To Me” was onscreen, a few weeks ago, got his phone out on FULL BRIGHTNESS. I figured he was looking the film up to see if it was worth watching, and would put it away a few mins later, and he did. But good God, man, turn the bloody brightness down! It was only 84 minutes long, so I figured he decided it was a short film and so not worth having to struggle to his feet again.
You should cut down on your pork life, mate, get some exercise!
Scrapper is in cinemas from Friday August 25th, but isn’t yet available to buy on any home formats.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 84 minutes
Release date: August 25th 2023
Studio: Picturehouse Entertainment
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 7/10
Director: Charlotte Regan
Producer: Theo Barrowclough
Screenplay: Charlotte Regan
Music: Patrick Jonsson
Cast:
Georgie: Lola Campbell
Jason: Harris Dickinson
Ali: Alin Uzun
Mr. Barrowclough: Cary Crankson
Emily: Carys Bowkett
Zeph: Ambreen Razia
Kunle: Ayokunle Oyesanwo
Bami: Ayobami Oyesabwo
Luwa: Ayooluwa Oyesanwo
Layla: Freya Bell
Stan: Jessica Fostekew
Youseff: Asheq Akhtar
Josh: Joshua Frater-Loughlin
Nina: Aylin Tezel
Vicky: Olivia Brady
Kaye: Laura Aikman
Young Jason: Daniel Burt
Ali’s Little Sister #1: Aysa Uzun
Ali’s Little Sister #2: Ezel Uzin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.