Harris Dickinson’s striking Debut Urchin: A Study in Ruin
CANNES, MAY 2025
By Burcu Beaufort
After dazzling us last year in Babygirl (2024), Harris Dickinson returns to the Cannes Film Festival with his terrific directorial debut, Urchin. As part of the festival’s official selection, the film screens in Un Certain Regard, a parallel section to the main competition for the Palme d’Or. Born and raised in East London, Dickinson writes and directs a devastating portrait of an urchin named Mike, played by the charismatic Frank Dillane, best known as the young Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Image by Devisio Pictures and Somesuch/BFI Film/BBC/Tricky Knot
From its very first scene, the film plunges us into the timeless philosophical question of evil’s existence in a world where God supposedly reigns. A street preacher calls out, “Have you heard about Jesus?”, waking the homeless Mike from his sleep on the pavement. Moments later, after a passerby offers to buy him breakfast, Mike violently mugs the would-be good Samaritan.
It becomes clear that the film seeks neither sympathy for its deeply troubled protagonist nor a justification of his actions. Instead, it offers an unflinching glimpse into a period of Mike’s life which marked by addiction, desperation, and a sincere effort to break free.
Throughout, Dickinson delivers a compelling study of a cursebound character, a young man whose past remains mostly obscured, save for a brief mention that he was adopted and has lived on the streets for the past five years. Handled with a profoundly sensitive touch, the film invites us to understand (rather than excuse) a flawed, broken person trapped in a self-perpetuating cycle of connection and destruction. Frank Dillane’s performance is exceptional. With his restless energy, physical precision, and haunted gaze, he brings Mike fully to life, pushing the actor into the spotlight of the festival.
His co-star, French actor Megan Northam, delivers a quietly remarkable performance, while Dickinson’s own cameos as another urchin subtly round out the cast. Visually gritty and emotionally raw, Urchin pays homage to Taxi Driver and Trainspotting through its exploration of social injustice, addiction, and fractured identity. As a directorial debut, Urchin is a bold, promising work, and undoubtedly one of the must-sees of the year.