From his performances in the likes of Triangle of Sadness [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Ruben Östlund
interview : Ruben Östlund
fiche film] and Babygirl, it’s clear that Harris Dickinson is a highly talented young actor inclined to provocative career choices – an integrity that must have helped him win the role of John Lennon in the upcoming Beatles biopics. But it was his visit to the Criterion Closet (watch the video) – speaking eloquently on Kenji Mizoguchi, Harmony Korine and more – that made this writer keen to interview him, as his directorial debut, Urchin [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Harris Dickinson
fiche film], impresses festival audiences across the world.

Following Mike (Frank Dillane, awarded Best Actor in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard), a twenty-something unhoused man and alcoholic, across East London as he tries to get sober and also put a few more quid in his pocket, Urchin is firmly in the tradition of the country’s social realism, but further enlivened by a dreamlike, phantasmagorical streak, and gives a close insight into living on the edge in Britain today. The subject matter may seem well-trodden, but akin to Ken Loach’s last films, it strongly accounts for the impact of UK government austerity from the 2010s to now.

We recently caught up with Dickinson to find out more about the movie, which is showing this week at the Dinard British & Irish Film Festival, ahead of a UK and Irish bow through Picturehouse Entertainment.

Cineuropa: Did it always seem natural to tackle this topic for your first feature? Where did the premise initially come from?
Harris Dickinson: It was an issue I cared about deeply. Addiction, specifically, was always something that was around me. And homelessness is almost a result of that in the film, rather than the main topic, if you will. I spent a lot of time researching: working with different advisors, going into prisons and talking to various organisations involved in probation, prison reform, restorative justice and so on. One thing informed the other: my work in the community informed the script, and vice versa. Just before the first lockdown, I wanted to try to get involved in causes, and I found great work being done by the organisations Project Parker and Under One Sky in London. I didn't want to just sit behind a keyboard and go, “This is wrong.”

Were you trying to address a misconception people might have about homelessness today? Or think about how it intersects with our improved awareness of mental health?
If I can paint a picture of someone navigating a very precarious set of circumstances, and a complex history and trauma, then the viewers’ takeaway is not up to me. And if I can do so in a way that prioritises a lack of judgement, and a lack of strong moral messaging, presenting Mike’s story in a way that feels honest and told through a lens of love, then we'll probably find insights we might not have had.

Mike’s post-facto meeting with Simon (Okezie Morro), the man he assaults, is one of the film’s most powerful moments. How did you go about staging this scene and thinking about its impact on the movie’s events afterwards, which go even more awry?
I think the reality with a lot of this restorative justice work is that it's designed for victim and perpetrator to address one another and make amends – recall the events from their own perspective, find answers or forgiveness in it, and reclaim the story. For the most part, that works. And for a very small number of people, it doesn't. It can be very confronting and challenging. And I think Mike was someone, at the time, who thought he was ready to tackle this.

Regarding your growth as a director, I’m reminded of Brady Corbet, who also acted for many auteurs close to his sensibility. Do you see your acting and directing journey as intertwined in this way?
One serves the other in different ways. I think I've learned a great deal as an actor in terms of the process of being on set, being vulnerable and being exposed, and what it means to hold that space as a director. I'm definitely interested in auteur directors, and visions that are distinct, unique and integrity-based. But they're definitely very separate for me, the roles of director and actor. For the latter, I want to step into another universe and trust myself in that, whereas as a director, I want to be more of a control freak!

Having worked with cinematographer Josée Deshaies, have you been enjoying Bertrand Bonello’s recent films?
I mean, what a legend Bonello is. It was wild that Josée agreed to shoot with us, really – it’s kind of bonkers. I just rewatched House of Tolerance [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Adèle Haenel
fiche film]. And obviously, there’s The Beast [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Bertrand Bonello
fiche film]. I just loved Josée’s framing – of course in Passages [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], too. It’s really elegant and allowed a lot of space for performance and for body language. And the way she saw the world was intriguing to me – she’d never been to London. She has super high standards, which I love.