Perfectly adorable

A Brilliant Conflict

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I really loved and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this two-part novel adaptation for the TV. It's the story of a rebellious lonely teenager who lacks his father's love and spends the entire duration of this miniseries desperately looking for it. His father remains so aloof from him that he doesn't make the slightest attempt to hug or kiss him particularly when he used to return home from his boarding school holidays. This was rather poignant to see. His father's affection would have meant so much. It would have helped him get over the sudden death of his mother who drowned in his presence while having a summer picnic when he was barely ten years old. Growing up so precociously away from home while trying to cope with his inconsolable grief turn him into a distant and reserved teenager. His actions soon make him look like a social misfit in his conventional upper-class community, landing him in prison for two years for setting the local church on fire. You really endear yourself to his character and tend to feel sorry for him considering all the unbearable pain he goes through. As he cannot seem to be able to cry or have someone to rely on, he adopts a selfdestructive attitude and resorts to cutting his own forearm, which helps him cope with the pain and suffering. All and all the story is so riveting and compelling that once you start watching it you cannot simply stop. It's so strong that it defies any Sunday afternoon drowsiness. It is brilliantly acted, above all Finn Elliot's performance which is flawless and superb. George MacKay's is also remarkably electrifying making the weight of this story worth in gold. This may well be an adaptation of Sadie Jones' novel, but the story has fuel for a sequel. Despite its happy ending, it really left me gasping for more, wanting to know more about the characters.

This is not an easy drama to watch....but the rewards make it all worthwhile. Yes, it starts off a bit slow. You have to adjust yourself to the pace and, for lack of a better word, the quietness of the piece. The score is fairly minimal, aside from a few intense strains that play during moments of torment for the main character. And it works perfectly.No one says more than they need to, and the silences enrich the drama. This is a story of people who have secrets, who struggle to express themselves and communicate. There is no unneeded expository dialogue; it trusts the viewers to pay attention. And the visual setting, the performances, the story are so riveting that you can't stop paying attention.The acting is consistently wonderful. I agree with another reviewer who said it took some adjusting to MacKay as Older Lewis and JBF as Alice, but I can't fault either of them for that. Alice almost dropped out of the sky (one reviewer said it was like Gilbert had ordered her from Harrods, LOL), so it made sense that she seemed awkward at first. And MacKay is not only much older than Finn Elliot but does not particularly resemble him. So to me, that was more a matter of how they were introduced than of the acting.MacKay is quite brilliant, and I was very impressed with Greg Wise. The secondary characters are seamless and strong. Jessica Bardem is thoroughly winning. And JBF really hit her stride in the scene in the restaurant with Young Lewis (around the middle of the first episode) and never broke it after that. Alice became a compelling character in what is, IMO, her best performance to date. Granted I have not seen everything she's done, but this was a great showcase for her talent and I think she is growing exponentially as an actress.When it came to and end I felt like I had just watched a classic. In retrospect the entire story became an almost perfect whole and it stayed with me. I watched it again and enjoyed it even more the second time. Haunting, beautiful, bittersweet. Just a wonderful series.

With some great talent and such an interesting story this had a lot of potential to be good, even great. And all the high anticipation was not quashed, with a very good first episode, with a couple of reservations, and an outstanding second one. Don't let the constant gloom put you off, this was a powerful and poignant story done rivetingly by the BBC.The Outcast looks great for starters, with the post-war period detail done to very elegant and atmospheric effect and the whole drama being beautifully photographed throughout. Loved also the haunting and carefully chosen music scoring (no shrill violins for example) that gave off a real sense of melancholy while allowing the drama to resonate and not overbear it, as well as how appropriately restrained the direction was. The script is intelligently structured, thoughtful and affecting, it doesn't rely too much on over-exposition, the mood is not too one-dimensional (thanks to a reasonably but subtly upbeat first twenty minutes or so) and there is very little misplaced to interrupt the flow (apart from the slightly misplaced sex scene in the bar). The story, while deliberately but seldom dully paced, is incredibly powerful in its best parts and has a great deal of poignancy and nuance, particularly memorable was the truly harrowing drowning scene and the contrast between the torment and secret pain and the civilised and restrained society was depicted powerfully and without any compromises too.As for the cast, the performances are uniformly impressive, with seemingly clichéd characters to begin with but ones that show more dimension and meat in the second half. There were two performances that left me with reservations at first but once the material got meatier and the characters more interesting in the second half their performances got far better. George McKay seemed rather vacant and gormless at first (it was also at first a little disconcerting having the older Lewis bearing no resemblance to the younger one), but his emotional range gets wider, the more emotionally damaged Lewis becomes, and more subtle in the second half, making it easier to empathise with Lewis and the pain he's going through regardless of his actions. Jessica Brown-Findlay at first seemed a little lost, but the more sympathetic, hapless and tormented Alice became the more comfortable Brown-Findlay seemed.Finn Elliot is wonderful as the younger Lewis, his grief and loss heart-wrenchingly portrayed, while Hattie Morahan is charming and a breath of fresh air in contrast to the drama's overall atmosphere. Greg Wise plays uptight and stern brilliantly, and there's even one part that shows that he is not entirely devoid of feelings, and Nathaniel Parker excels in a very atypical role as the domineering and brutish Dickie Carmichael. Jessica Barden also does a fine job showcasing Kit's physical and emotional damage, she is also very convincing playing a character quite a bit younger than she is.To conclude, excellent and powerful BBC drama, that started promisingly with reservations and fared even better in the second episode. 8.5/10 Bethany Cox

This is a simple story of childhood tragedy, absence of fatherly love, and a young man with unreconciled grief and emotional turmoil. Young actor Finn Elliott turns in a remarkable performance. He's a beautiful kid and delivers a complex role with naturalness and heartbreaking authenticity.When the role is picked up by George MacKay, the transition is seamless. After a forced absence which takes place between episodes, he returns older and harder, but not repaired. As his stepmother says, a "broken thing." MacKay has turned in impressive leading performances in HOW I LIVE NOW and PRIDE. He is absolutely among the rising class of performers who will probably dominate the next generation.Greg Wise in the role of the father is cold and rigid, but isn't a monster; he's simply unequipped with emotional warmth for his son or his new wife. This television production exceeds most of the feature films I've seen this year.