SnoopyStyle Mel (Molly Parker) is a mess after the death of her husband. She's a junkie being taken care of by her 10-year-old son Paul. Family friend Vicki (Marsha Thomason) dies in an overdose. Paul is forced to confront that his mother could die from drugs. Her friend Lenny (David Wenham) feeds her the drugs. Paul befriends waitress Louise (Keira Knightley). Mel decides to quit Heroin cold-turkey with Paul helping out but Lenny stop it. Paul's grandparents tries to get him away from his mom.The kid is wonderful in this. Of course, he's given a really juicy role. Molly Parker does a great job as a junkie in a British accent no less. The story is filled with humanity and it flows through the kid. Knightley has a co-starring role as a junkie grifter waitress. It's interesting to see her character presented at first as a savior for the kid.

Boba_Fett1138 This is a rather cheap movie and I don't mean cheap in terms of its budget (well, perhaps also a bit) but more in terms of its story and clichés. Seriously, this movie fairly much progresses just as you would expect it to and it just doesn't really have any surprises in it.Yet it picks in original approach, by telling the story from the viewpoint of an 10 year old boy, who's mother is an heroin addict. So you see the usual story from an unusual viewpoint. It adds some originality and effectiveness to the story but yet overall the movie remains mostly shallow, which is not due to the acting or overall written but more to the directing.The movie really isn't always flowing well and it also isn't helped much by its horrible musical score. The way the story is being told is weak at times and the movie too often chooses fast cuts and scenes often end too abruptly. The movie at points often leaves an unsatisfying impression because of this, though the movie its intentions are all good. Because of the storytelling I felt a certain distance to the story and character and wasn't overall grabbed by it. The movie because of this also doesn't work out as realistic as it potentially could had. Despite the actor's efforts most characters remain mainly stereotypical ones. No, I can't say Gillies MacKinnon is my favorite director, even though this movie is the only one I have seen by him. The movie is just not the most effective or powerful one within its genre.All of the actors are basically doing a good job but they don't really make the movie, or their characters more interesting than they are. Harry Eden is praised to heaven for his performance and it is a good role for an 12 year old but no people he really isn't that great. In some of the sequences (especially the emotional ones) his acting is simply lacking and I couldn't ever feel any of the pain or anger his character went trough, which again, might also be rather due to the movie its directing approach than anything else really. The movie also stars David Wenham and Keira Knightley before their days of fame. I like Keira Knightley and all but you can actually wonder what she is doing here in this movie. Her role on paper might seem like a relevant one but in the movie it works out as a redundant one, whose plot line is distracting from the one the movie is really all about.I don't mean to sound too harsh about this movie, since its definitely a watchable one. It's just that it's also currently being overrated and overpraised on here, for something that it just really isn't.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

vitaleralphlouis The most important aspect of this film is how it focuses on a 10 year old boy and his problem with his heroin addicted mother; not on a mother dealing with a boy using drugs.Keira Knightley is the star power, but she's neither the sexiest nor the most slender; that goes to Molly Parker (Deadwood)and it's easy to see how she could attract men to enable her ongoing drug use. Her acting is as good as it gets but never falls into the trap of excess usually used to portray drug users. The portrayal of the boy Paul is also very real for being matter of fact rather than excess. The cinematography in a working class London neighborhood does not overdue the squalor but shows a pretty nice place to live ---- for those who haven't abandoned religion, patriotism, the work ethic, self-respect and other traditional English values.Widespread drug use, beginning with heroin, began with MY generation, those who were young adults in the Kennedy Era. Heroin spread like uncontrolled wildfire across America --- from the inner cities of New York, Chicago and LA (the only places where drugs were common in 1960) into every town in America. The #1 carrier of the disease were the college kids --- spoiled brats who embraced heroin with open arms and spread it directly or indirectly to their children. Hippies, with their aversion to soap, spread their false credo of Peace and Love --- if only the world was stoned we'd all love each other. Hippies are just so Yesterday, but their poison legacy lives on.Children dealing with stoner parents; that's the reality. Young people today have little idea how rotten things were in America in their parents' generation. Drugs and crime everywhere. When kids like Paul in this movie began to rebel against their corrupt and useless stoner parents; that's when things changed. How nice that this film gets it right.

ender34 Molly Parker is indeed convincing as the addict mother but the person who brings this film off is the boy who plays her son -- so it behooves us to get his name right. Harry Eden makes a brilliant debut in this difficult role. He is onscreen in almost every scene, with far more screen time than either Parker or David Wenham who plays the mother's supplier. His daily trials are grim but his ultimate resolution of them is cathartic.