Dickinson's first oeuvre focuses on Mike, a homeless young man who betrayed the trust of an honest man who made the mistake of wanting to help him after he had a physical argument with one of his homeless colleagues. There follows several attempts to reintegrate society for Mike, through honest work and human relationships while trying to live with his own faults. The main interest of Urchin is to present a not so clean and polite young man, as the title indicates, who tries to fit in a British society that tries to welcome him as he is.
Many times during the movie, the anger issue of the character is shown rather abruptly especially when the situation involves money or alcohol. Furthermore it is also seen on numerous occasions some purely artistic scenes that have a more metaphorical meaning which give a more philosophical overview of the movie and the character. Talking about it, it’s 34 year old Frank Dillane that interprets the young homeless Mike during his cinematic odyssey. The actor manages to perfectly express the character's complicated emotions, which even got him the prize of best actor in the movie’s category at Cannes.
Beside his many successes as an actor, his talent as a director have been less impressive and less memorable.
Concerning the man behind all this, Harris Dickinson has built himself a pretty impressive filmography in the last few years, his biggest success being the 2022 Cannes' Palm d’Or Triangle of Sadness. He even allowed himself a small part in his own movie as Nathan, an acquaintance of Mike. Beside his many successes as an actor, his talent as a director have been less impressive and less memorable. Even if the direction is not exceptional, it must be granted that he manages to place a certain atmosphere of hidden rage throughout the film which goes very great with the character. Other faults can be found with his writing in a story that relies sometimes on rather abstract concepts and a metaphorical open ending that gives no clue about the continuation of the characters' adventures. Which makes Urchin just a series of events about a guy with no real objective.
Unlike many actors that perfectly learn the skills required to be a very good filmmaker through their acting career, such as Donal Glover, Emerald Fennel or Jordan Peele. Harris Dickinson's first try results in a direction barely higher than average and a tragically realistic story that lacks an end goal. Despite its important meaning for some young adults, this film will not be particularly remembered, except for the names on the poster.