Wordiezett So much average

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

actionfilm-2 Enjoy nihilism? Scenes of squalor, abuse, emotional pain and death? Then this is the film for you. Enjoy expert cinematography, wonderfully natural performances, black humor and emotionally engaging characters? Again, this is the film to watch. An anti-Disney film centering around a boy and his misery. Has an opening credits scene I consider among the top ten of all time in terms of originality and execution. Some IMDb reviewers apply the word dull to this film, consider they were perhaps weened on MTV and the hyper active style filmmaking that followed. Ratcatcher is perhaps how cinema used to be in terms of pacing. Looking for entertainment? Look elsewhere. Need help entering a state of depression? Use Ratcatcher.

bandw (Spoilers) This is the story of a few weeks in the life of twelve-year-old James. The setting is Glasgow in 1973, toward the end of a nine week garbage collector's strike. James lives with his two sisters and parents in a lower-class neighborhood. I would say that James' family was working class, but I could never tell whether his father had a job--his main interests seemed to be drinking and watching television. The rat-infested bags of garbage lining the streets is a good backdrop to punctuate the squalor that James has been born into.James has no male friends to speak of, but he does take up with Margaret, a young girl who is used by the local boys for sexual escapades. I found the extreme realism worked against the movie in many ways. Given James' bleak environment, it is no wonder that his emotional dexterity had been checked. As James, William Eadie effects a remoteness that is believable, but a remoteness that kept me at a distance from connecting with him.There is a little relief offered from the downbeat story line. There is a scene that has James taking a bath with Margaret where the two are enjoying themselves in non-sexual playfulness. On occasion James goes to the outskirts of town to visit a housing project under construction. Beyond the project is an open wheat field that James runs through in a state of ecstasy, delighting in having escaped the claustrophobia of his life in the city. These scenes are effectively filmed to give testament to James' desires for freedom and a better life, desires that his fate will prevent.I give the movie credit for style--the colors and music help with providing emotional content for the episodes. Unfortunately the emotional content was predominantly depressing. I ask myself what I am to take away from a movie like this. I can appreciate the artistry of the presentation, but any further value is hard to come by. I know that poverty exists and lots of people are living dead end lives trapped in miserable situations, so I don't get any better understanding of that. Is a movie like this a plea for some action to be taken to provide more opportunity for such people? Are state-funded housing complexes part of a solution, as hinted at here? I think that if James' family were to get into one of the housing units, they would simply be situating their problems in a better environment. The grim ending shows that director Ramsay is playing this for real, but it's a reality that left me with a sense of hopelessness.

I_saw_it_happen The problem with Ratcatcher is that it's terribly boring, save a few moments which are mildly amusing by contrast. The 'amusing' moments, were they in a mediocre film, would simply be filler, whereas in Ratcatcher these moments are 'meaningful'.I understand that there is supposedly wonder in the mundane. For a long time, art, be it painting, literary, or even musical, has focused on the 'downtrodden common folk', and the banality of everyday life. This is basic Romanticism. Some poets would write sonnets to dung beetles and lepers, glorifying the transcendent humanity of their subjects. And there was, to be sure, a certain objective there, elating the commonality of 'the human condition' by showing that our concepts of beauty and value are reflections of our own ability to perceive. It's a nice sentiment, and makes nice poetry, and sometimes nice painting, and musically, works very well. But for film, it's just boring. In film, it becomes a task, for the audience to actively search for entertainment amid dull, often depressing and unremarkable situations. *SPOILERS*Ratcatcher is basically a series of 'atmospheric vignettes' where a kid wanders through grimy Glasgow, being a kid. The acting by the whole cast is actually pretty good, and quite believable, but the bar is so low...DIRECTOR: I want you to all act kind of depressed and spaced out, OK?CAST: OK. Like this? DIRECTOR: No, no--- like you've got something on your mind besides acting. Here... comb this guy's hair for a few minutes and peripherally glance at the kids.... Good! Good! CAST: This is boring, though.... DIRECTOR: No, really, act like you really want to get the lice out of his hair. CAST: Hmmmm.... DIRECTOR: Good! Channel that disappointment with this script into your acting! Good! See? That's art! CAST: I feel so downtrodden and useless.... DIRECTOR: Good! Good! Yes, we were all children and we were often unaware of the severity of the world around us. Is the point of this film simply 'Children are adaptable by default of socio-political ignorance'? I mean, it's true, I guess. But so what? The filming is decent, sometimes even quite nice. This is the reason I gave this movie a rating of '4' rather than 2 or 3. There are moments which make Ratcatcher almost enjoyable, but out of a familiar feeling, rather than anything new. the whole film is every cliché about poor people and children of the poor you could imagine. This movie is nothing special, but it's nothing terrible, either. It's watchable, and if 'plot' doesn't matter to you, then it's probably worth watching. But for those of us who prefer substance to style, this film is sure to disappoint. Why are so many new directors afraid of plot?As an extra note, the short films tacked on to the DVD are excruciatingly boring, and make Ratcatcher seem interesting by comparison. Just more scenes of people combing hair. Dull, dull, dull...

thecomputersaysno Ratcatcher tells the story of a young boy, James, on a Glasgow estate, wracked with guilt over a friend's death and faced with a future that seems already mapped out for him.Set against bin man strikes in the 1970's, with black rubbish bags strewn across the grim urban wasteland and rowdy bullies always around the corner, Ramsey's film creates a bleak vision of this era for a boy's upbringing. The film follows James and observes the relationship with his parents and peers and how he creates hope when there appears little.The visions of hope can be seen throughout, but only, like James, if you take the effort to explore or look closely; the field, the bus driver, the medal, the teenage girl, the shoes, the glasses, the mouse etc. Ratcatcher contains some super images, my favourite being James upon the sofa (I won't spoil it, watch it and see).If you're really into this type of bleakness, why not create a double bill with "Young Adam"? It may not appear the most cheery of films, but you can't help caring about James and sharing some hope.