Urchin: Harris Dickinson’s unflinching directorial debut

Lucy Barstow reviews Harris Dickinson’s ‘Urchin’ in an insightful way, compelling readers to go watch the movie!

Renowned for his roles in Babygirl (2024) and Triangle of Sadness (2022), actor Harris Dickinson makes his ambitious directorial debut with Urchin (2025), a bold homelessness drama. Exploring themes of addiction, poverty and the incompetence of the British social support system, Urchin is a tender yet unfiltered portrayal of life on the margins of society and marks the start of a promising career in film-making.

The narrative centres around Mike [Frank Dillane], a man who has been living down and out on the streets of London for 5 years when the events of the film begin. We follow him as he commits a senseless act of violence against the innocent Simon [Okezie Morro] and is imprisoned as a result. Although the audience does not see his experiences in prison, we see Mike upon release – thrusted into social housing and determined to make the most of his second chance. Employed as a chef and seeking solace in guided meditation tapes, Mike’s stark transformation from violent addict to a meditative and hopeful worker only exacerbates his eventual downfall. The start of Mike’s decline is distinctly marked by an arranged meeting with Simon to contend with the events of the assault, intended to be cathartic for both parties. However, this has quite the opposite effect, as Mike hears the repercussions of the assault on Simon’s personal life and is overcome with guilt, leading him to self-sabotage. In an interview with BFI, Dickinson reflected on this aspect of Urchin when he said:

“being confronted with [your] own violence. […] When is someone ready to take accountability for it and move past it in a way that feels accepting and not self-hating?”

Although largely a victim of his own actions, it seems too that social workers have entirely washed their hands of Mike, not making another appearance within the film past this scene. As a viewer, I too felt powerless to the circumstances apprehended on Mike. Barely permitted the time nor support needed to appropriately self-actualise, he resorts to old drug habits and undermines a promising connection with a woman named Andrea [Megan Northam]. 

In an arresting opening scene, Mike pleads to strangers for spare change, and his attempts are altogether ignored, appearing as an all too familiar image to most audience members. In this scene and several others throughout the film, Dickinson uses real people – although compensated for their participation – to stage a genuine interaction between Dillane’s character and the apathetic London populace. Audiences will appreciate Dickinson’s unique approach to directing – focused on compelling character studies and authentic settings, with both features serving to ground the story in a more believable reality. 

Urchin conforms with the tradition of British social realism, specifically the subcategory of ‘Kitchen-sink film’ that depicts the plight of the working class in unglamorous detail. This genre also balances out its commentary on poverty with humour, which audiences will discover Urchin does deliver on. Yet one thing that makes Urchin a distinctive debut is its blending of the realistic with the surreal. Throughout the plot, Mike never escapes his past and is haunted by an ambiguous darkness which threatens his search for stability. Audiences may well find themselves thinking about Urchin’s traumatic themes and phantasmagorical elements for days after viewing.

Certainly, Urchin is a brilliant execution of Dickinson’s compassionate directorial vision and delivers an important message to the modern viewer. The film is out now in select UK cinemas.

Words by Lucy Barstow

_{Image credit: Frank Schramm / Montclair Film Festival}