The Unloved
2009 Directed by Samantha Morton
Synopsis
The Unloved is film that gives a child's eye view of the U.K.'s government-run care system for orphans and children in danger. Lucy is eleven years old. Having been neglected by her estranged mother and father, she is placed in a children's home. Through her eyes, we follow Lucy's struggle to cope with the system. Her saving is her self-belief and her certainty that she is being watched over and protected by the holy spirit. Hers is a heroic quest for love, beauty and transcendence.
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Samantha Morton is a very powerful actress; take it to heart, then, when I stress that her skills behind the camera are infinitely more impressive than those before it. Her first (and thus far only) film as director is a staggeringly impactful autobiographical story, the genuine emotion and experience behind the production immediately obvious. In the lead role, Molly Windsor is an absolute revelation, her consistent straight face somehow much more moving and distressing than it would be were she caught weeping throughout. The story itself is built of elements you're likely to have seen before at one point or another, but it's in the way Morton frames these that gives them their true power. Slow, meticulous, considered, her pacing…
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I had little knowledge of this film before going into it and it was a wonderful surprise. A directorial debut and a solid one at that. Morton hits it home with this heart-wrenchingly realistic and fantastically mundane piece. I loved how upsettingly real it was, the young lead - Molly Windsor - was often so still and contemplative. Carlyle often barely enters the frame, literally and figuratively - so much an outsider on his daughters life and perhaps rightfully so.
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Not a single thing about this film felt exaggerated or contrived. I felt like this was real life, and I was peering in on it through a spyglass. And that made little Lucy's terrible predicament all the more unbearable to watch—yet I couldn't bring myself to look away.
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"Lucy goes into care, a place where she receives little care, and even less attention. Her search for love in a chaotic life is portrayed in an almost documentary style; it was hard to believe that the actors were acting in this very effective look at the way we look after vulnerable children."
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Samantha Morton is a very powerful actress; take it to heart, then, when I stress that her skills behind the camera are infinitely more impressive than those before it. Her first (and thus far only) film as director is a staggeringly impactful autobiographical story, the genuine emotion and experience behind the production immediately obvious. In the lead role, Molly Windsor is an absolute revelation, her consistent straight face somehow much more moving and distressing than it would be were she caught weeping throughout. The story itself is built of elements you're likely to have seen before at one point or another, but it's in the way Morton frames these that gives them their true power. Slow, meticulous, considered, her pacing…