The Unloved

Samantha Morton's impressive directorial debut, getting a brief cinematic release after being shown on Channel Four last year, is the grim story of the 11-year-old Lucy, a working-class Catholic in Morton's native Nottingham. Her father is an abusive alcoholic, her mother selfish and feckless, and Lucy is taken into care pending the authorities finding a satisfactory foster family. Partly inspired by Morton's childhood, the movie combines to interesting effect a naturalism reminiscent of Ken Loach and a stylisation like that of Terence Davies.