Pure: Grade B

B

Pure

Molly Parker, David Wenham, Harry Eden, Keira Knightley.
Dir=Gillies MacKinnon

A 10 yr old boy (DW) figures out that his mother (MP) is a junkie and what that means. She tries to kick it but can’t. Social services come to take the child into foster care. She finally gets methadone treatment and there is a quasi-happy ending. There isn’t much new here as far as the depiction of heroin addiction, or in the relationship between the boy and mother, but the outstanding acting, photography, and music raise this picture to above average. I think it's criminal to let or make young children be big screen actors, but I admit that David Wenham does an amazing job. Keira Knightley was a complete unknown then (2002) but puts out a dazzling performance. Molly Parker plays the junkie mom to perfection. The sugar-coated ending allows you to have hope, even though, intellectually, you know it doesn’t work that way.