An engaging central performance from 14-year-old schoolboy Andrew Hawley is matched by flawless acting from the adult cast, including Miranda Richardson (fresh from her success as Ruth Ellis in Dance With a Stranger) and Liam Neeson (the pair previously were seen together in A Woman of Substance). Roger Deakins' photography is ravishing, and the film marks a nice change of pace for director John Mackenzie after The Long Good Friday and The Honorary Consul. The only fault that can be laid at his door is that the finished product paints a chocolate box picture of life on the dole in the Yorkshire Dales.


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