Ratcatcher (1999)
Glasgow, summer, 1973. Dustmen are striking; bags of garbage add to the blight of council flats and a fetid canal. Ryan, who's about 12, drowns during a play fight with his neighbor, the jug-eared James. James runs home, a flat where he lives with his often-drunk da, his ma, and sisters, who live in hope of moving to newly-built council flats. The slice-of-life, coming-of-age story follows James as he tags along with the older lads... (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Lynne Ramsay
Written By: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Tommy Flanagan, Lynne Ramsay Jr., John Miller, William Eadie, Mandy Matthews, Michelle Stewart, Leanne Mullen
Genre: Drama
Where to Stream
Loading...
Ratcatcher belongs to 45 collections
1. Criterion Collection (collaborative: moderated by caffe - 167 stars)
2. Female Directors (collaborative: moderated by djross - 90 stars)
3. boobs (collaborative: moderated by Pickpocket - 51 stars)
4. Full Female Frontal Nudity (Yes, Bush!) (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 26 stars)
5. The Story of Film: An Odyssey (collaborative: moderated by rant1229 - 20 stars)
6. They Shoot Pictures' Recommended Viewing (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 19 stars)
7. Humanity and the Natural World (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 18 stars)
8. Best of criticker: Drama (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 18 stars)
9. Coming Of Age (collaborative - 16 stars)
10. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
11. Best film of top directors (collaborative: moderated by avgcrtckr - 15 stars)
12. FIPRESCI Prize (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 14 stars)
13. Doubling The Canon (collaborative - 13 stars)
14. Slate's 50 Other Best Films of the 1990s (public: TychoCelchuu - 9 stars)
15. Children in lead role (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 8 stars)
16. BFI Film Classics (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 7 stars)
17. 1970s period film (collaborative: moderated by djross - 6 stars)
18. Positive Psychology Films (collaborative - 6 stars)
19. Doubling The Canon (2010 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 5 stars)
20. BIFA Winner (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 3 stars)
21. TimeOut Magazine's 100 best British films (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 3 stars)
22. Unconventional Cinema (public: holsgr - 3 stars)
23. Criterion Collection (Blu-ray and 4K) (public: PepeCamello - 3 stars)
24. BBC Films Productions (collaborative: moderated by ellinikos - 2 stars)
25. My Top 100 Films (public: AutumnLily - 2 stars)
26. Sound Design (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 1 star)
27. BAFTA Award for Best British Film (Nominees) (collaborative: moderated by ellinikos - 1 star)
28. Doubling the Canon (2011 update) (collaborative: moderated by MMAlpha - 1 star)
29. Doubling the Canon (2012 update) (collaborative: moderated by Cinephile - 1 star)
30. aflickering searches for new capital F favorites (collaborative: moderated by AFlickering - 1 star)
31. films mentioned in Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema ~p~ (collaborative: moderated by 5Z5qjRCfM2 - 1 star)
32. movies of the year - Brian (public: JooJoo - 1 star)
33. gork movies to get (public: gork - 1 star)
34. Top Film of Each Year (public: Judge Holden - 1 star)
35. such watch list wow (public: Bullt - 1 star)
36. Psychogeography and Dérive (public: Ag0stoMesmer - 1 star)
37. 1999: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
38. to watch [TG] (public: teckgecko)
39. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 3 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
40. 90lar (public: Ozancan)
41. Rewatch & Random (public: ForrestQ)
42. Tom's Movies (public: tomwalsh)
43. Best Films I Haven't Seen (public: kendell)
44. Adolescence (public: Russ Bedford)
45. C-1990 (public: cantahta)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 4 |  |
MartinTeller | 82 73rd |
|
A moody, slowly paced look at lower-class Scottish life, much in the same vein as Ken Loach or Mike Leigh. The guilt of young James looms over everything as much as the ubiquitous heaps of garbage, without ever being spoken of outright. Some say the ending is ambiguous, but I think it can really only be interpreted one way (the darker way). The fantasy sequence involving Kenny's mouse is a slight misstep and doesn't fit. Otherwise it's very well-done, but not really my kind of thing.
|
|||
| 2 |  |
Icarus | 80 58th |
|
Bleak and dreary, yet somehow, likely through the use of children, Ramsey elicits compassion for and finds beauty in the people that populate this darkened world. The opening sequence is an effective bit of misdirection that makes it much easier to feel for James. And the woman who plays his mother is especially good evoking strength, stability, and softness in an understated performance.
|
|||
| 2 |  |
Neonman | 66 27th |
|
An incredibly loose film that should've either been grounded more or should've been shorter by almost half its length. All I got from this film was the environment it placed me in and made me sympathise, but that could've been done in forty or fifty minutes. Still, some scenes are better than others and the child acting in this is pretty excellent.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Nathan S | 5 93rd |
|
New companionship, a field of wheat, a mouse's odyssey: temporary respites from a complete smothering of poverty, refuse, and guilt. These moments of escape are so warm and affectionate, all the better to break our hearts when it becomes clear that they are ultimately unattainable. Belongs to a short list of great films which embrace truthfully the internal lives of children.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
miawallce | 89 87th |
|
-Snowball's dead, Kenny.-
-You killed him...
|
|||
| 1 |  |
KasperL | 80 86th |
|
Starting out with a death, then loosely structured as a coming-of-age journey, the film turns out to be a mostly plotless (or at least anti-narrative) portrayal of a boy's life. The natural performances were great. Seen as a feature debut this is a downright miraculous effort from Ramsay who succeeds in combining grubby social realism with an eye-poppingly picture perfect style.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
Octave | 75 80th |
|
Characters so close and yet so far away from each other. A subtle, little, shiny diamond.
|
|||
| Average Percentile 69.98% from 612 Ratings |  |