The Kid

Nick Moran's film is based on the book in which Kevin Lewis told his own life. It starts with a childhood of violence inside his own home, moves through a youth that turns to crime, and ends with the man's effort to put a life back together. The narrative tries to hold all three periods at equal weight, so it shows neither only the suffering nor only the recovery. The hardest thing about it is that it offers no easy account of where the abuse came from. The violent scenes are not detailed, though their presence is not hidden either. Rupert Friend plays the adult Kevin, with Natascha McElhone and Ioan Gruffudd as adults who come into his life.