URCHIN

(director/writer: Harris Dickinson; cinematographer: Josee Deshaies; editor: Rafael Torres Calderon; music: Alan Myson; cast: Harris Dickinson (Nathan), Frank Dillane (Mike), Megan Northam (Andrea), Amr Waked (Chef Franco), Karyna Khymehuk (Ramona), Shonagh Marie (Chanelle), Buckso Dhillon (Nadia), Okezie Morro (Simon), Holly de Jong (Old Woman); Runtime: 99; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Scott O’Donnell, Archie Pearch; BBC Film; 2025)

“A heartbreaking character study about the never-ending cycle of the homeless.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The London based English actor Harris Dickinson’s directorial debut resonates with compassion for his subjects. His film is a heartbreaking character study about the never-ending cycle of the homeless. Its title “Urchin” translates to the meaning of ‘beggar’ in the UK.

In London’s East End, a young screwed-up, argumentative, homeless young man, Mike (Frank Dillane), hangs out with his homeless pal Nathan (Harris Dickinson), and while horsing around robs one of his friends (Okezie Morro). Mike serves time for the crime. After prison the social worker Nadia (Buckso Dhillon) gets him a job, a temporary room in a hostel and tries to keep him off drugs. But he begins a romance with Andrea (Megan Northam) and goes into a relapse, doing drugs again.

The free-flowing urban street film has a dark side, has improv-dialogue and offers a sturdy performance by Dillane. Dickinson’s liberal social realism approach is likened to that of the master of such films, Ken Loach.

It played at the Cannes Film Festival. 

REVIEWED ON 12/10/2025  GRADE: B
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