Rating: 
Summary: poetry in the slums
Review: the closest relative to lynne ramsay's haunting and poetic "ratcatcher" is its american cousin, david gordon green's equally accomplished debut "george washington" (also available on Criterion). both films focus on young children struggling to come to terms with the poverty and decay that surround them and threaten to engulf their childish optimism. both films also share a remarkable visual poetry that acts as a filmic catharsis of sorts, lifting the characters and their bleak situations (and the viewers with them) up to a realm of hopeful transcendence that feels justly earned, and is never condescending, because of the filmmakers' empathy toward their characters.but there are important differences between the two films. green's "george washington" maintains a level of poetic distance throughout and is very much grounded by the remarkably unaffected performances of his child actors; and this creates an exquisite balance between harsh realism and high art that is at once deeply moving and haunting. ramsay achieves something very similar, but her "ratcatcher" has more of a social documentary feel (sort of a ken loach meets terrence malick); it is slightly less structured and chooses to effectively insert its audience into the intimate, mundane everyday lives of its impoverished characters rather than have us observe them from a narrative distance. as viewers, we are privy to astonishingly private scenes between young children, such as a troubled boy taking an innocent bath with the town's young, abused harlot. scenes like this one litter the film and are heartbreakingly honest and moving and always catch the viewer off guard. in fact, ramsay's undeniable gift is that she is able to maintain a wholly convincing filmic social realism while seamlessly inserting moments of poetic tanscendence that never feel forced. even the film's haunting, heartwrenching final scenes are infused with a visual beauty that make it impossible to leave the screening room without a glimmer of hope. with poetic moments like these, ramsay provides her desperate characters with a touch of heaven that the reality of their lives simply cannot afford. "ratcatcher" is the quintessential example of art as transcendance.
Rating: 
Summary: A grim look of a real Scotland.
Review: The Ratcatcher is a hauntingly realistic view of Glasgow Scotland in the mid 70's. The story follows James a young boy as he deals with the challenges in his life like death, guilt, sexuality and isolation. The film mixes realism with surprisingly innocent and in some cases violent scenes to bring together a truly wonderful almost voyeuristic account.
The DVD comes packed with extras. Including an interview with and three short films by Lynn Ramsay. The optional English subtitles can help you follow the dialog through the thick Scottish dialect, not only the accent but also the common sayings for the area. Ratcatcher takes me back to my childhood in the west coast of Scotland. Growing up just west of Glasgow I see how much the film is a true authentic vision of how things where. I rode the same old green and yellow double decker busses on a 10p ticket like James, I had a belt just like James and a coat just like Kenny's.
Rating: 
Summary: an unusual and somewhat disturbing film.
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
Ratcatcher, Lynne Ramsay's first feature length film is a piece of art house which has some nice scenes.
Set against the time of a major garbage collector's strike in Scotland, it portrays a troubled youth whose family is very poor.
There are some disturbing scens in the film including one death and one apparent death, both of children drowning. There are others which I prefer not to go into details about. The keywords on IMDb should be self-explanatory. On a lighter note, the film contains, my favorite Nick Drake song titled "Cello Song" and its place in the film is quite good.
A interesting aspect of the film is that the characters in the film speak in such a heavy Scottish accent and use many obscure Scottish slang, that the filmmakers found it necessary to put in subtitles for it's US release.
The Criterion DVD includes a trailer and a stills gallery, along with 3 short films by the director.
"Small Deaths" features 3 parts "Ma and Da", is about a woman grooming her husband before he leaves for a party. "Holy Cow" about some children who find a dying cow. "Joke", is about a women and her friends who fool someone into thinking that she OD'd on heroin.
"Kill the Day" is about a man paroled from prison who tries to behave himself.
"Gasman" is about a man who takes his children to a Christmas party.
There is also a 20 minute interview with the director, Lynne Ramsay.
I suggest reading more about the film before watching it if you are easily offended.
Rating:
Summary: A Gem of a Gutsey Independent Film
Review: Well, I have to confess to turning on the English subtitles to understand the type of English practiced in Scotland, but this is one heck of a movie that will haunt you long after watching it. The UK is having difficulty reaching agreement with the trash collectors union, so the trash is building up around the tenement buildings. The kids of the neighborhood run the streets like wild stray cats. They make sport of catching and killing rats. When they are bored with being mean toward animals, they turn on each other in far more subtle but more devastating ways. The canal in back of the tenements claims lives on a regular basis. Some drown by accident. Some are already drowning by living in the squalor of the slums.
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