10/02/2008

"There are scenes you don’t rehearse, you just shoot, period. In that way you create the psychology and setting. Screenwriter Mark O' Rowe and I wrote very precise dialogue, working above all to give them a very high quality,” said a visibly moved John Crowley, director of Boy A [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Presenting his film last evening at the Berlinale in the Panorama section, he spoke to a packed house of his intense portrait of a troubled young man.

Based on the novel by Jonathan Trigell, Boy A tells the bitter story of Jack (Andrew Garfield, winner of the 2006 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Emerging Theatre Actor), released from prison after a long sentence for a terrible crime he committed as a child.

His attempts to create a life for himself as an adult, protected by anonymity, nevertheless cannot save him from his memories. And when the truth resurfaces, his dreams of normalcy are brutally shattered.

With its lengthy applause, the press showed its appreciation of a film that is delicate and moving despite several strong scenes of violence.

Crowley said: "Boy A was initially conceived as a television film, but it wasn’t shot in a TV style. We tried to use a cinematic approach, even though our budget was extremely tight."

To make the film culturally and socially precise, producers chose locations in Manchester, with its characteristic brick red houses, and the outskirts of London.

Boy A is the first feature film produced by the UK’s Cuba Pictures Ltd. – founded in 2007 by Curtis Brown – with majority financing from Channel 4. World sales are being handled by The Wenstein Company.

(Translated from Italian)