To me, this movie is perfection.

Pretty Good

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Mel (Molly Parker) is a mess after the death of her husband. She's a junkie being taken care of by her 10-year-old son Paul. Family friend Vicki (Marsha Thomason) dies in an overdose. Paul is forced to confront that his mother could die from drugs. Her friend Lenny (David Wenham) feeds her the drugs. Paul befriends waitress Louise (Keira Knightley). Mel decides to quit Heroin cold-turkey with Paul helping out but Lenny stop it. Paul's grandparents tries to get him away from his mom.The kid is wonderful in this. Of course, he's given a really juicy role. Molly Parker does a great job as a junkie in a British accent no less. The story is filled with humanity and it flows through the kid. Knightley has a co-starring role as a junkie grifter waitress. It's interesting to see her character presented at first as a savior for the kid.

PURE - 2002 (Dir Gillies MacKinnon)Reviewed By Ollie - Jan 2004CONTAINS SPOILERS Those who have seen the remarkable of performance of Harry Eden in `Real Men' will doubtless be familiar with his capable handling of powerful roles. `Pure' is British drama, set around a London based single mother and her two sons, Lee and Paul (as played by Eden). A promising start to the film shows young Paul preparing drugs for his heroin addicted mother, and handing her the syringe. A desolate look appears on his face as his mother confesses to having forgotten his birthday.Billed as a gritty and powerful drama, this movie is good, but hardly outstanding. Eden's performance is superb, given the material he has to work with. For the best part of the film young Paul looks for all the world as though he is hardened to the situation in which he lives. There is a empty, tired and vacant gaze behind his eyes, reflecting the impact of living with a drug addicted parent.The film is not without gentle touches of humour. The scene in which Mel (played adeptly by Molly Parker) hands over the child, Rose, to the doctor on the bus, is both sad, and gently amusing, as Paul glances back to the doctor warning him `don't give her pepperoni - it gives her the shits'.From here the film delves into the world of heroin abuse, with detox scenes and the inevitable problems that arise from them. Unfortunately this is where the film is ultimately badly let down.The film is good, but that's as far as it goes. It could have been so much better, and barely warrants its 18 certification. Harry Eden is an outstanding actor, and this film could have been such an opportunity to explore his vast potential. Sadly though, this role is a little like giving Michael Schumacher a Mini - you just know that Harry could have done so much with the part, given the chance. He is denied the opportunity to portray any real emotion - it is only in the last 15 minutes in which we see this world weary ten year old cry. Whether this is intentional is difficult to say, as the direction of the film doesn't have quite the impact to allow any true sense of desperation.The detoxification is reasonably well handled, but is not shown with the impact that it would genuinely have. Overall, the main problem is that the film is too likeable, and nowhere near uncompromising enough given the subject matter. Paul's introduction to heroin, to `feel what his mother feels', seems to have been put in for shock value, and is unconvincing and unrealistic, and using it as his mothers inspiration for kicking her habit is clichéd, nearly as much as the family suggesting `pie and eels' for a celebration meal is a jaded and stereotyped image of `the real cockney'.For all its faults though, `Pure' is a decent enough film, with characters you can warm to, and is generally a very likeable film. Sadly it is this likeability that detracts from the seriousness of the subject matter, and one cannot help but feel that Harry Eden is not given enough room to allow his character to develop. This means that the viewers are robbed of the opportunity to see this young actors remarkable talent at its full potential. A well earned 7.5/10 for this well meaning, but sugar coated movie, which could have been so much more...Ollie

I was so impressed by this film. At first glance, it's just another junkie flick, as another user has implied - but there's a real humanity to this film that movies like "Trainspotting" and "Requiem" are lacking. I think this is largely due to the absolutely *stunning* performance of the main character - probably one of the best child actors I've ever seen on screen.

Just saw this on Sundance. loved it. beautiful acting, story, music, direction. Molly Parker is awesome once again. It was actually refreshing to see a movie where an addict actually beats her addiction. The scene where Mel (Molly Parker) sees her son (played wonderfully by Harry Eden) under the influence of heroine was especially touching.