Skunk (Eloise Laurence, arresting) is a quiet but persistently inquisitive 11-year-old who’s surrounded by chaos: She watches her volcanic neighbor (Rory Kinnear), who’s raising three wayward daughters, beat up a developmentally disabled innocent teen. Her dad, an even-tempered lawyer (Tim Roth), tries to keep the peace in their cul-de-sac, but to no avail. Skunk’s teacher (Cillian Murphy) is seeing her au pair; he’s later rewarded with a broken heart (guess who the nanny leaves him for?) and a busted nose. The first feature from British theater director Rufus Norris deftly mixes gritty realism and lyrical impressionism, though its five-car pileup of a climax ultimately makes the film feel less a Greek tragedy than a miniseries in miniature.
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