‘Scrapper’ (2023) Review: Tales of a Grieving Child
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labour of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
When you’re grieving the death of a loved one, you might retreat into your own world. For 12-year-old Georgie (newcomer Lola Campbell), she makes an elaborate plan to fend for herself. But the truth is that she is dealing with the death of her mother (played by Olivia Brady in flashbacks) after passing away from a life-threatening disease. Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper is a coming-of-age movie written in reverse about a young girl living alone in a flat and dealing with the unexpected arrival of her long-lost father, Jason (Harris Dickinson, Triangle of Sadness).
The resourceful Georgie is happy to look after herself. She lives alone, cleans the dishes, washes her clothes, and keeps her flat tidy. Unbeknownst to the social services, school teachers and neighbours, she manages to fool them and creates a fictitious uncle named Winston Churchill. Her best friend, Ali (Alin Uzun), is the only person who knows about her situation and earns money to pay the rent by stealing bikes around the neighbourhood. They sell the bikes as scrap to Zeph (Ambreen Razia) for cash. Georgie is guarded about her grief, but Ali checks up on her. She is determined to stay in the flat and make sure everything stays exactly the same — just as her mother had left it.
However, what she wasn’t expecting to arrive was her father; straight out of the flight from Ibiza, where he has been living since Georgie was a baby, Jason arrives unprepared to take care of her young child. As an overgrown adult who is still a kid, Jason isn’t thrilled about his new responsibilities and feels overwhelmed by them. Georgie believes that she doesn’t need adult supervision and makes no attempt to warm up to him. Georgie and Jason adjust to their new lives and realise they need each other more than ever.
A melodramatic father-daughter drama that portrays the complicated relationship between them, Reagan’s Scrapper is filled with youthful elements. This movie could be compared to Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, starring Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio, but it is far from it. While Wells’ feature follows an adult daughter revisiting videotapes (and memories) of a last vacation before her father’s death, Regan observes grief through the eyes of a young girl. Georgie doesn’t allow herself to grieve her mother’s untimely death. It’s not surprising. Georgie is naive and oblivious regarding death. She believes that her mother ‘went to the sky.’ She tries to keep her memory alive and desires to see her soon.
Scrapper delivers the tender and humoured approach to dealing with grief through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl. When Georgie feels distressed, she creates her own world by presenting spiders, video game speeches, and talking head interview footage with neighbours and locals. In her mother’s old bedroom, she builds a metal ship made of scrap materials to meet her mother in the sky. Perhaps Georgie is unaware of the situation, or she delves into magical realism to escape from the loss of her mother. When Georgie enters this magical realm, the frame changes. She sees the world how she wants it to be, whether it is her mother or spending time with Ali. It’s not an ideal living situation. She has no one to depend on except her best friend, Ali. He is the only person who knows that she records voice messages from the cashier at the local store and tricks the adults in her life (teachers, social services, Ali’s mother) by playing them over the phone and dodging questions about her fictitious uncle’s whereabouts.
Campbell’s comedic timing and impeccable performance fit perfectly in this film alongside Dickinson. They make a great double act. But the highlight of this movie is Campbell, who steals every scene she is in. She is a young actress who naturally brings a surprising performance exploring complex themes of grief and loss.
Scrapper is an excellent directorial debut by Regan. It portrays the resilient nature of grief between Georgie and Jason while trying to navigate their new relationship. It is an original story that shows a father and a daughter bonding over make-believe scenarios and helping out with stealing bicycles. The emotional and visual aspects are necessary to portray the loneliness and scary moments. It’s a beautiful portrayal of grief and reconnection — a heartfelt movie that creates rules for people who need empathy and care.
Strike Funds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1weorhmG1H7cszY3rGHCpNYsgleegkuOSH7rD47JzSAQ/edit
Solidarity with striking film and television workers: https://freelancesolidarity.org/wga-sag-strike-solidarity/