Broken

Three families live side by side on a cul-de-sac and eleven year old Skunk watches all of it from her window. A beating happens in the street, then an accusation, and the chain snaps: neighbourliness, school and fatherhood all crack at once. In his first film Rufus Norris ties the narration to the child's perception, so the audience also gets the adults' reasons incompletely. Tim Roth plays the father calm and tired, and Eloise Laurence, in her first role, carries Skunk. The source is Daniel Clay's novel, and its structure leans openly on To Kill a Mockingbird: neighbourhood injustice seen from a child's height. A diabetes subplot pulls the ending toward suspense. Who it is for: viewers who like British social drama and films built on a child's point of view. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by hard violence and by a child placed in danger.