The material is thought-provoking and features some very good performances.
Comment
10/23/08
Boy A (2008)
91
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:53
Fresh:48
Rotten:5
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Small in scale but large in impact, Boy A's career making performances (particularly that by star Andrew Garfield) and carefully crafted characters defy judgment and aggressively provoke debate.
Synopsis: Bright futures are undercut by dark pasts in BOY A, a quiet, ruminative tale about a violent act committed by a man in his tormented youth, and his haunting inability to find a way to have a... [More]
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Shaun Evans, Siobhan Finneran
Director: John Crowley
Reviews for Boy A
The limits of redemption and forgiveness get challenged ruthlessly in this haunting drama...
10/21/08
Efficiently directed by John Crowley, Boy A avoids exploitation while never soft-selling its thorny subject matter.
10/17/08
The genius of Garfield's performance is that he fills him with equal amounts of terror and wonder.
09/19/08
This is a brutally honest story that pulls no punches. It excels at everything from the directing and acting to the editing and photography. A stunning achievement
09/16/08
It makes us feel sympathy for the devil.
09/12/08
Garfield is definitely an actor to watch, but prepare yourself for the disappointing ending.
09/05/08
Director John Crowley, a veteran Irish theater director now working in film, is deliberate with every last element of his film.
09/05/08
It's a sad movie, no question -- but like most great drama, it inspires admiration for its thoughtfulness and its craft.
09/02/08
Boy A is the kind of movie that falls victim to the new role of multiplex as babysitter of teenagers. Its life in the theatres will be short, but for the few that find it now it will be worth it.
08/29/08
Even its structurally weaker moments give Garfield an opportunity to expand on Jack's physical and mental dislocation. Given Boy A's final floating reel, it's an anchoring performance in every sense of the word.
08/29/08
The new British film 'Boy A' poses a question that is easy to ask but nearly impossible to answer: Can we ever really escape from our own misdeeds?
08/25/08
His sophomore feature, Boy A explores bleak territory but its insistence on not tying everything up in neat little bows is to be commended.
08/23/08
The movie is taut with suspense but culminates in wise resignation as the hero comes to understand he's running from a part of himself.
08/12/08
Crowley gets a remarkable performance from Andrew Garfield: his Jack is a person who carries guilt with him even when he is trying to override it.
08/11/08
Boy A is one of those rare movies that takes the idea of rehabilitation seriously. In the end, it may present a worst-case scenario, but it does so with unusual depth and conviction.
08/08/08
In tandem, the director and screenwriter build up a palpable suspense. Boy A will rivet you while raising issues about forgiveness and just who deserves it.
08/08/08
Along with Garfield and the splendid Scottish actor Mullan, Crowley brings great tact to this bruising saga of atonement and moral regeneration. Though a bad seed can bring forth good fruit, will others want to pick it?
08/08/08
There are some gaps in the movie's reality, and some O. Henry-like contrivances, but the masterful trick Boy A plays on viewers is to get them to care before giving them reasons not to.
08/08/08
We're introduced to more string-pulling symbolism than a movie this inherently sad ever needs. It's too much.
08/08/08
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