Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Starring: Molly Parker, Harry Eden, David Wenham, Keira Knightley

- Reviewed by Vickie

The ubiquitous, and terrifically talented, Molly Parker stars as a heroin addict in this fantastically moving but seriously bleak drama from director Gillies McKinnon (Hideous Kinky). Like his last feature, McKinnon sets out to tell the story of the power of family over all else, and he succeeds—due in large part to the jaw-droppingly great performance given by young Harry Eden. Eden plays Paul, a ten year old forced to confront the fact that his mother (Parker) is an addict on the fast track to an early grave, and that he has, in essence, been left on his own to get her clean and save her life. Mustering all the maturity of a grown man, Paul sets out to evade his mother's dealer, facilitate his mother's home detox (by himself!) and find temporary refuge with a local waitress (Keira Knightley, Bend It Like Beckham) who, sadly, is also hooked on "gear."

Pulling no punches and replete with several gasp-inducing scenes (Paul offering to cook his mom's "medicine" for her or begging to have a puff of it for himself to see what it's like, to name but two), Pure thankfully never resorts to movie-of-the-week cheesiness. It doesn't go for the easy out (like having some kind of magical rehab program that saves the day), it doesn't avoid any of the decidedly unpleasant aspects of its storyline and, more than anything else, at its core is a powerful, all-consuming love between a boy and his mum.

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