It’s not your average tale of what it is like to be in a school for troubled boys in Canada but director Daniel Grau’s ’10 1/2′ starts with a shot of porn and heads straight into child-on-child abuse – to make a point. This is not a video nasty. This is a story of a kid who didn’t have a chance, who doesn’t really know any better: his parents are damaged addicts. It is not, however, predictable or, in fact, like any other film on troubled kids that you’ve seen before. It’s a cracking film and it should be seen but, with an opening scene like that, whoa, there’s no way the BBFC will let this into the UK without censorship. Then there’s the swearing, all the time. (But its in Quebecois French – can we let that through?)

The reason I’m writing about a film you may never see is because 1) it is very strong 2) it is grueling but pacey, so very watchable, 3) if you liked the French film ‘The Class’ then this is that with the gloves off and 4) the star of the film, Robert Naylor, is one to watch. Seriously, this kid is 14, he’s been acting since he was 5 and, yes, he can act: he’ll be co-starring with Mickey Rourke in ‘The Immortals’…

All I could do was praise him and tell him to stay clear of Lindsay Lohan and not to get plastic surgery too soon. You know, just trying to help.

So far the film doesn’t have a UK release date or distributor but you can watch the French trailer here. I was lucky enough to catch the film at the Bratislava International Film Festival. Let’s hope we can get someone in the UK to show it to the rest of us?