Ratcatcher

Ratcatcher (1998)

  • 84% of critics liked it
    (37 reviews)

  • 85% of users liked it
    (4,535 ratings)

Lynne Ramsay's debut feature Ratcatcher is a gritty but often lyrical portrait of a boy growing up on the wrong side of the Scottish tracks. James (William Eadie) is a 12-year-old coming of age in a rough working-class section of Glasgow. Something of a misfit, James has only two close friends,… More

Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By
Lynne Ramsay Jr, Lynne Ramsay
Written By
Lynne Ramsay Jr, Lynne Ramsay
Genres
Drama
In Theaters
Jan 1, 1999 Wide
On DVD
Sep 10, 2002
G2 Films

Critic Reviews

  • Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle

    Some may find such wrenching realities shocking, if not reprehensible. Others may glean meaning in their starkness -- a meaning that transcends the film's despair with the power of its truth.

  • Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

    Ramsay's imaginative shot-making gifts make for a sublime result, creating a different sort of magical realism than we're used to seeing.

  • Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

    In any good film, the opening shot is telling, and Ratcatcher is a very good film.

  • Charles Taylor, Salon.com

    Lynne Ramsay bears watching. But when we talk about advances in the art of movies we have to be talking about leaps of feeling, not just leaps of technique.

  • Peter Howell, Toronto Star

    Ramsay tells much of the story through a series of images, each more marvellous than the last.

Read all 13 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

  • AJ V


    A gritty, realistic, sort of depressing movie, but if you like those kinds of dramas, it's really good. I think it was a good movie.

  • Lady D


    This is a film that has always been highly recommended to me and whilst I believe this to be a film that has portrayed a gritty Drama, with a realistic setting and very natural performances, I seemed to have missed the point to the film. the storyline to me failed to deliver a means… More

  • Spencer S


    In the garbage strewn and rat infested streets of 70's Glasglow, there lies the rudimentary cinematic climax: that of poverty. For the young and still slightly innocent James, his downward spiral into depression starts with the death of a friend, possibly at his own hand. As the… More

  • Cassandra M


    One of the best British films of the nineties, Ratcatcher is a powerful evocation of the uncertainty and surreal nature of childhood. The film also has something to say about family relationships, death, and the toll poverty takes on people (in this case, in the Glasgow of the… More

  • Cynthia S


    This movie is very tricky to rate, because the subject matter is so real and human, which automatically gives it a edge over a large number of films. The acting is superb, by adults and youngsters alike. The film technique fits the mood and hard times of the characters very well, and… More

Read all 12 featured audience ratings

Cast

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