Urchin
1-2 Special | Release Date: October 10, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The Daily BeastEsther ZuckermanMay 19, 2025
While you ponder the tragedy of what you just witnessed, you are left stunned by how talented Dickinson and Dillane are. It’s the kind of work that makes you excited to see what they do next. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshOct 23, 2025
Dickinson, who became a heartthrob in movies like “Beach Rats,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Babygirl,” announces that he’s much more than a pretty face, he’s got something to say, and the message of humanist compassion he delivers in “Urchin” is incredibly powerful. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoOct 10, 2025
Inspired by tales of people on the fringe by Mike Leigh, Sean Baker, and the Safdie Brothers, “Urchin” stays committed to presenting Mike’s story without frills, recognizing that it’s just a tragically common one of a man spiraling down the drain of society. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 19, 2025
Dickinson clearly hopes this story will make it that much harder for people to dehumanize the homeless population, but the power of his film — and the promise of his intelligence as a filmmaker — is that it recognizes how a portrait of mottled ambivalence might better accomplish that goal than a million cheap sops of empathy. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineBrogan MorrisOct 10, 2025
Urchin more than occasionally looks like and has the immediate feel of a Ken Loach film, with its long lens scenes of Dillane interacting in real locations with figures who, as in the best of Loach, could be either non-actors or performers convincingly masquerading as them. Read full review
80
Little White LiesHannah StrongOct 9, 2025
Dillane is a remarkable discovery. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippOct 9, 2025
Dickinson’s first feature is so assured in every other regard that you can give him a pass for these interludes. Urchin establishes him as a filmmaker to watch: a storyteller willing to look at a thorny subject and admit that there are no easy answers. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBeatrice LoayzaOct 9, 2025
Urchin doesn’t break the mold, but it’s a confident, quietly affecting drama that strikes above the standard character study. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyOct 3, 2025
The scenario is so familiar it could have been the same old story, but the texture of all this street life gives it rather a special shine. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyOct 3, 2025
Dickinson doesn’t end Urchin on a note of sentiment or tragedy, but somewhere in the very human middle of it all – and in doing so announces himself as a director with real guts. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyOct 2, 2025
Dickinson plays a small role as Mike’s antagonistic friend, but everything rests on Dillane’s powerhouse turn and the writer-director’s compassionate, daring script. Read full review
80
EmpireIana MurraySep 30, 2025
In tackling homelessness with deep empathy, one of our most exciting young actors proves himself to be a bold new voice in British filmmaking. Leave some talent for the rest of us, Dickinson. Read full review
80
Time OutKaleem AftabMay 19, 2025
Harris Dickinson steps behind the camera for a bruising, brilliantly strange debut that channels veteran auteurs like Jonathan Glazer and Andrea Arnold, while carving out a distinctive voice all its own. Read full review
80
Vanity FairRichard LawsonMay 19, 2025
With Dillane’s invaluable help, Urchin paints a sad and compelling portrait of someone lost in the fringes, a victim of an often indifferent system and of the complex wiring of his brain. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeMay 19, 2025
The film makes no claims to represent an entire disenfranchised demographic, but there’s resonant human texture and political feeling in its close-up individual portrait. Read full review
80
TheWrapChase HutchinsonMay 19, 2025
This is a full character that Dillane and Dickinson have built from the ground up, where the little details of how he reacts to things can tear right through when you least expect it. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeMay 19, 2025
This gritty social realist character study is spiked with striking and unexpected detours. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyMay 19, 2025
Urchin would be nothing without a gifted, vanity-free actor (the lead is the son of Stephen Dillane) who has clearly dug deep into the milieu of addiction and homelessness and is willing to go anywhere the script takes his character — from rapturous highs to desperate lows and all their consequent indignities. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMay 19, 2025
It is engaging and sympathetically acted and layered with genuinely funny moments, mysterious and hallucinatory setpiece sequences, and is challengingly incorrect thoughts about the haves who fear the contagious risk of coming into contact with the have-nots. Read full review
75
The Travers TakePeter TraversDec 26, 2025
It may be tonally all over the place as cinema, but in his first film, actor turned director Harris Dickinson cuts a direct path to the heart and certifies star Frank Dillane as a major talent. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonOct 16, 2025
Dillane is onscreen for the entire film, and he gives a performance that will stick with you long after the symbolism-laced last scene. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineWilliam RepassOct 7, 2025
Harris Dickinson imbues the film with a singular style, as well as a self-awareness that’s introspective without stooping to outright self-flagellation. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 14, 2025
A seemingly straightforward story about an addict barely holding his life together on the streets of London, Urchin is effective because of all the things it doesn’t do: there are no grand revelations, no horrific bottoming-out or OD moments. We’re simply left alone with an addict and his feelings—or, occasionally, his seeming lack of them. Read full review
70
ColliderEmma KielyMay 19, 2025
With a phenomenal performance from Frank Dillane and a thoughtful, open approach to those who lose their way in life, Urchin is a worthy contribution to the cinematic portfolio of British realism. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerOct 20, 2025
Despite his confident and unfussy direction, Dickinson owes most of Urchin‘s success to his lead actor, Frank Dillane. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesOct 16, 2025
There are no life lessons here, only an uncommonly focused look at one life – the sometimes joyful, sometimes punishing day-to-day existence of a young man whose future is more uncertain that most. Read full review
67
The Film StageRory O'ConnorMay 22, 2025
In Urchin, Dickinson blends issue-driven social realism (a British staple) with the trendier look of a Safdie film: all medium shots, real streets, non-professionals, and the occasional trip down a colorful drain. These might not always blend smoothly (this is an uneven film at the best of times) but it is an interesting combination that even expresses a clear political perspective. Read full review
60
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonMay 22, 2025
The most interesting and beautiful piece to this puzzle is the fact that Dillane's performance can steer the audience in any direction emotionally and at any given moment. Read full review
58
The PlaylistRafaela Sales RossMay 19, 2025
Urchin puts forward a sensitive, promising director. And an even more promising writer. Read full review
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