Ratcatcher

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Ratcatcher

2000,

1h 33m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

86%

49 Reviews

Tomatometer

86%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

49 Reviews

86%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

James Gillespie (William Eadie) is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen), a vulnerable 14-year-old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny (John Miller), who possesses an unusual innocence in spite of the harsh surroundings.

Critics Consensus

Critics find Ratcatcher to be hauntingly beautiful, though its story is somewhat hard to stomach.

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Ed Potton

The Times (UK)

Apr 12, 2024

5/5

It’s an incredible, contained turn by Eadie, verbally inarticulate but full of depth in expression and gesture.

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Peter Bradshaw

Guardian

Apr 11, 2024

4/5

What is so striking and eerie about Ratcatcher is Ramsay’s brilliant way of rendering a trance-like, epiphanic child’s-eye-view of a hundred little things that present themselves to James’s senses.

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Bruce Westbrook

Houston Chronicle

Jul 21, 2005

B

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.

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Quentin Falk

Sunday Mirror (UK)

Apr 21, 2026

3/5

A visually striking debut by Scots director Lynne Ramsay.

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KT Mahe

For Your Reference Podcast

Feb 10, 2026

4/5

Ramsay focuses her lens on what is not could or should be in Ratcatcher. Context leans on establishing shots which give a lived-in feel. However, with minimal dialogue, it felt more portrait than narrative.

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Oti

For Your Reference Podcast

Feb 10, 2026

4/5

Ratcatcher pairs realism with quiet, lingering emotion. Some moments are unsettling without clear explanation, but its portrait of guilt, innocence, and poverty is deeply affecting.

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Harry S

Sep 28, 2017

I'm happy to discover for myself such a talented director which Lynne Ramsay is. She continued the great English traditions of stories (later movies joined in, "Kes" comes to mind) depicting wretched urchins living in poor neighborhoods, leading a bleak hopeless life; a Dickens's touch is felt in this one. Cinematography is beyond reproach. I'm not sure how she managed to create such beautiful, even poetic shots in this filthy, vermin-stuffed piles of garbage, dirty streets and messed people. I couldn't agree more with someone say that she tells her stories in images rather than dialogue. It's a very difficult task, a practically lost virtue of modern cinema. I'll look forward to her future work. This her debut is a masterstroke.

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Hermione M

May 13, 2017

Strong and beautifully shot debute feature by Ramsey.One of the most intersting and hauntingly told stories about childhood on screen.

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Synopsis

James Gillespie (William Eadie) is 12 years old. The world he knew is changing. Haunted by a secret, he has become a stranger in his own family. He is drawn to the canal where he creates a world of his own. He finds an awkward tenderness with Margaret Anne (Leanne Mullen), a vulnerable 14-year-old expressing a need for love in all the wrong ways, and befriends Kenny (John Miller), who possesses an unusual innocence in spite of the harsh surroundings.

Director: Lynne Ramsay
Producer: Gavin Emerson
Screenwriter: Lynne Ramsay
Distributor: Merchant-Ivory Productions [us], First Look
Production Co: Les Productions Lazennec, Pathé Pictures Ltd., BBC, Le Studio Canal +, Merchant Ivory Productions, Holy Cow Films, Arts Council of England
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 13, 2000, Original
Release Date (DVD): Sep 10, 2002
Box Office (Gross USA): $216.8K
Runtime: 1h 33m
Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby SR, Dolby Digital

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