Review
The Kid
Director: Nick Moran
Release Date: unknown
If you are not familiar with the story of the bestselling memoir “The Kid” by Kevin Lewis, when the film starts with a bloody and bruised man contemplating suicide, it’s clear that what will transpire on screen will be disturbing and tragic. But surprisingly it is a heart-warming story that despite its harrowing subject is eminently watchable.
Starting at the end with a battered Kevin Lewis (Rupert Friend) the film goes back to 1980 where his younger self (William Finn Miller) suffers abuse at the hands of his mother (Natascha McElhone) and his alcoholic, epileptic father (Con O’Neill). A kindly nurse spots his bruises and he enjoys a brief moment of respite at a foster home before an inept social worker sends him home again.
Things begin to look up when he is sent to live with an older couple where he finally finds a father figure in the form of James Fox. But it’s not long before he finds himself at the hands of a different set of abusers who threaten to derail his plans for business success and a stable future.
The Kid is episodic, jumping from present day, to childhood, to teenage years and in-between but the time shifts are handled deftly by director Nick Moran (Telstar: The Joe Meek Story), using an upbeat soundtrack and changing fashions. Yet this time span, about 13 years, leaves the relationship between Kevin and his siblings underdeveloped. While it’s earnest, the performance by August Prew as the teenage Kevin is particularly outstanding, it’s also overwrought. Natascha McElhone's cartoonish interpretation of the cigarette chomping, foul-mouthed mother is hard to take seriously and Rupert Friend’s high-pitched voice out of place until the real Kevin shows up in an end credit sequence.
Despite some of its obvious flaws, The Kid is ultimately uplifting and a true testament to the strength of the human spirit.
Marjorie Gallagher
