12-year-old James Gillespie lives on a Glasgow housing estate during the 1973 refuse collectors’ strike. After James’ friend falls into a canal and drowns, James becomes increasingly withdrawn. As bags of rubbish pile up and rats move in, James starts to spend time with Kenny and Margaret Anne.

Lynne Ramsay’s magnificent, impressionistic debut tells a haunting coming-of-age story tuned to her distinct frequency of poetic social realism. Set against a gloomy backdrop of 1970s Glasgow, we see the world through the eyes of a child: beautiful, painful and shot through with devastating humor.