Writer and Director: Vivian Kerr
Nowadays a stale sense of being under-valued or of having disappointed ambitions hangs over society justifying some self-harming political choices. Although apolitical Beth, the central character in Scrap, certainly conveys the bewildered hurt of someone whose expectations are unfulfilled.
Beth (writer /director Vivian Kerr) conceals the fact she has lost her job from her family by living in her car. She exploits the gullibility of her older brother, successful author Ben (Anthony Rapp) to trick him into looking after her five-year-old daughter Barbara (Julianna Layne). However, Beth is insensitive as to how her reckless disregard for the truth has consequences for other people –Ben and his wife Stacy (Lana Parrilla) are childless and desperately trying to conceive so Barbara’s presence exacerbates their situation.
The glossy approach taken by director Kerr makes Scrap almost the reverse of the stark and gritty Nomadland. Despite Beth’s predicament, the Los Angles locations where she parks her car are always upmarket and photogenic. Everyone is dressed to the nines and the weather is relentlessly sunny. The only times homelessness appears gruelling are the odd occasions when Beth clumsily tries to interact with a homeless person. As with much else in the film, such events serve to demonstrate the shallow nature of the central character.
Beth’s insensitivity prevents Scrap from becoming a comedy of embarrassment. Able to forget her daughter’s school recital and capable of peeing by the roadside, Beth is so thick-skinned her misadventures cause her no shame. There is, however, a sense of time running out, as Beth’s car is burgled and later towed away and a nosy neighbour reports her vagrancy. There is a strong hint that the root of Beth’s problems may lie in her inability to reject completely Joshua (Brad Schmidt), her needy and self-pitying former partner and father of her child, with whom she has a destructive dependency.
However, few characters in the film are without flaws. The saint-like Ben fails to comprehend how his obsessive need to protect his sibling results in him overlooking the vulnerability of his wife Stacy who comes across as uncaring simply because she is aware of Beth’s manipulations.
The script is fuzzy on certain details, failing to explain why Beth lost her job or how long she has been unemployed. More significantly, it is odd that Beth does not simply admit the truth to her brother and ask for help rather than misleading him, as Ben is utterly non-judgemental and has taken responsibility for her well-being since the death of their parents.
For the early part of the film, Beth behaves like the villain so the audience is primed to expect her comeuppance. However, ‘tis the season for stories in which an unpleasant character repents and finds redemption so it is no surprise when the plot of Scrap moves in that direction. The method by which Beth achieves redemption and maturity is so clearly signposted the developments are hardly a shock.
A nuanced performance from Vivian Kerr compensates for the vagueness in the script. Kerr has an extremely expressive face, which highlights the desperation underlying Beth’s actions and suggests she is emotionally unable to face up to her situation and is deceiving herself as much as her family. Even when sleeping in her car Beth changes into silk pyjamas and, despite being in need of work, is dismissive of potential jobs she considers beneath her talent.
Although the plot of Scrap is uneven, the film touches upon the sense of grievance experienced by many people and features a very strong central performance from Vivian Kerr.
SCRAP will be available on Digital Download from 13th December.
