BROKEN

Daniel Clay's Broken was one of my favorite books that I read while I was in the UK. It was such a well-drawn microcosm. If a little bleak... And a child at the center of the action like the one here-- Skunk-- is always a plus as far as I'm concerned.

Also, you'd be hard pressed to find better inspiration than To Kill A Mockingbird. So then: a British To Kill a Mockingbird set in North London. Score. Okay, not that Broken comes anywhere near To Kill a Mockingbird. But I always thought it'd fare well as a movie.

Which is why I'm so delighted to see it realized in film with so many great people behind and out in front of it. (Including theatre director Rufus Norris and delicious Cillian Murphy.)

Will the litany of bad occurrences end up over the top (as they were there for a while in the book)? Will the performances make us forget how nicely written the book is at the level of the sentence? Or will we miss that? Or will  the movie balance this all out?

I'm willing to find out. Reviews have been mixed so far. But praise is unilateral for young Eloise Laurence as Skunk. Which is great because the world needs more child actresses to give Quevenzhane Wallis a run for her money and Abigail Breslin and the Fanning sisters have basically aged out.