Ratcatcher

United Kingdom, France

1999

94 Min

Color

1.85:1

English

Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
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EXEC Andrea Calderwood, Barbara McKissack, Sarah Radclyffe

CAST Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews, William Eadie, Michelle Stewart, Lynne Ramsay, Leanne Mullen, John Miller, Jackie Quinn, James Ramsay

SOUND Richard Flynn

Cannes (Un Certain Regard), London, Toronto, Rotterdam, Edinburgh: New Directors Award

Synopsis

In her breathtaking and assured debut feature, Lynne Ramsay creates a haunting evocation of a troubled Glasgow childhood. Set during Scotland’s national garbage strike of the mid-1970s, Ratcatcher explores the experiences of a poor adolescent boy as he struggles to reconcile his dreams and his guilt with the abjection that surrounds him. Utilizing beautiful, elusive imagery, candid performances, and unexpected humor, Ratcatcher deftly contrasts urban decay with a rich interior landscape of hope and perseverance, resulting in a work at once raw and deeply poetic. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay (born 5 December 1969) is an award-winning Scottish film director, best known for the feature films Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar.

Ramsay won the 1996 Cannes Prix de Jury for her graduation film, the short “Small Deaths”. Her second short film, “Kill the Day”, won the Clemont Ferrand Prix du Jury; her third, “Gasman”, won her another Cannes Prix du Jury in addition to a Scottish BAFTA for Best Short Film.

Ratcatcher (1999), Ramsay’s debut feature, won critical acclaim and numerous awards. It was screened at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival, winning her the Guardian New Directors prize. She also won the Carl Foreman Award for Newcomer in British Film at the 2000 BAFTA Awards, the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival and the Silver Hugo for Best Director at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Morvern Callar (2002) won Samantha Morton the British Independent… read more

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Sean

27May12

Breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreakingly real, felt like I was watching a real family going through some hard times. Awesome score, wonderful cinematography and of course Ramsay's direcion, just so great. Anxious to see more of her work now.

Matthew Martens

6Dec11

Highly stylized despite its oppressive squalor, Ratcatcher reaches for the miserabilist sublime -- and attains it. Examining -- in a kind of trance of weary wonder -- both sides of every mirror, every window, every body, and every body of water, Ramsay's debut everywhere turns up vermin worthy of our pity, and of some kind of love, but she refuses them, and us, the solace of the moon. Instead she pulls us all under.