The Boy Who Cried Bitch

An unevenly pitched, resolutely sincere adaptation by scriptwriter Catherine May Levin of her novel about a delinquent 12-year-old boy whose guilt-ridden mother is forced by an emotional war of attrition to commit her potentially violent son to a series of unsuitable psychiatric institutions. Although Cross, as the delinquent boy, and Young as his long-suffering mother, lend a powerful conviction to their demanding roles, Campanella's aimlessly roaming camera and elliptical scene transitions are curiously at odds with the predominantly naturalistic tone.