Dustbin Baby

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Cast & Crew

Dakota Blue Richards
April

Juliet Stevenson
Marion

Saffron Coomber
Cathy

Poppy Lee Friar
Hannah

George Bustin
Baby April

Chizzy Akudolu
Railway Woman

Di Botcher
Pat Williams

Nicola Duffett
Big Mo

Juliet May
Director

Helen Blakeman
Screenwriter

Anne Brogan
Executive Producer

Melanie Stokes
Executive Producer

Julia Ouston
Producer

Adrian Johnston
Original Music

Chris Goodger
Cinematographer

Jake Bernard
Film Editor

Amanda Tabak
Casting

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Critic Reviews for Dustbin Baby

Audience Reviews for Dustbin Baby

• Jul 24, 2012

  I don't tend to watch films made for television as they rarely work due to limitations. Dustbin Baby might not use it's interesting premise to it full advantage, but it's good in the end. Dustbin Baby is about a April, a troubled teenager who was abandoned in a dustbin as an infant and searches for her past. The setup is what got me interested in the first place and couldn't wait to see where it was going to take the story. Unfortunately the direction the plot takes is not as interesting as it could have been. I like the nonlinear storytelling, but it heavily relies on flashbacks to tell the story. April adoptive mother is a moron, she actually believes that April ran away from home because she didn't get April her "mobile" (they never refer to it as a cell-phone). Would you believe the last place she looks is the place April was abandoned as a infant despite knowing that she was abandoned there on her birthday. It does have it good moments, like the flashbacks when April was a young girl are effectively emotional. April is a interesting female character who's three dimensional and the more she developed it got interesting. My main problem from the plot is that instead solely concentrating on April exploring into her past, we have boring scenes of April adoptive mother looking her. Even though Dustbin Baby doesn't effectively uses it setup properly, it does have it moments. The acting by our leading lady, Dakota Blue Richards, is nothing special, but you could tell she has potential. Unlike most of actresses her age like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, I actually thought Dakota Blue Richards has talent and makes me wonder why she isn't more popular. The rest of the cast acting is mix. In ones scenes it sounded like a woman was laughing, but the music tells you that she's crying. It's kinda embarrassing when music has to tell you what emotion is given. The direction is actually good, I was never confuse in what was going on and it told the story well despite it flaws. Now there's a novel by the same name which I have never read so I don't know if fans of the novel will enjoy it. The movie itself could have been better, but considering the limitations of television I can't the same level of quality for as a feature film. It did have effort going into it and heart, though the payoff is not as good as it could have been. Dustbin Baby is not as it could have been, but it not bad for a movie made for television. It's not bad watch to be honest, but you will wish it was better if you do watch it.
  Caesar M Super Reviewer
• May 05, 2011

  Decent TV movie. Wasn't one I set out to watch, but flicked over the channel five minutes in and Dakota Blue Richards's portrayal of bratty April made me interested enough to see it through. I did not realise until I read some other reviews that it was written by Jacqueline Wilson - I used to love her books when I was a teen (would not know about her more recent ones - this is 80's era such as "Waiting for the sky to fall" and "The power of the Shade"). For some reason I kind of thought that it was a true story, and from the write up in the tv mag, that it would be an American "lifeline" type story. I was quite surprised to see it was British! The story is pretty so-so, about a teen girl who was abandoned in a dustbin when she was a baby (hence the title), and the foster homes she went to and her hard life. It ends in her coming to terms with what happened and finding her peace with it. Dakota definitely has a future as an actress - she really carries this movie. Even when you can't especially like her behaviour, she has a compelling presence that keeps you watching. Worth a watch.
  Nicki M Super Reviewer
• Feb 20, 2009

  The film follows the story of young teen April whose troubled life began in a dustbin - a new born baby, abandoned and alone, not celebrated, not wanted but discarded and left like so much rubbish in an industrial bin behind a pizza parlour. On the morning of her fourteenth birthday April has a devastating row with her foster mother, Marion and leaves the house determined to find out where she really comes from, who she really is and maybe, just maybe, find her real mother. Telling no-one what she's up to or where she's going, April skips school and begins the search she's dreamed about all her life. It's a blur of social workers, children homes and special schools as April revisits and recalls the key scenes of her fragmented past. It's a painful journey, sometimes frightening but there's also friendship and love and laughter. And now she's started, there's no going back - April must find her mother. <a href="http://s420.photobucket.com/albums/pp286/ladypink_2009/?action=view¤t=dustbin-baby-300x1981.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp286/ladypink_2009/dustbin-baby-300x1981.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent adaptation. that was directed by Juliet May, and who clearly portrait the subject. The characters were superb; a wonderfully natural relationship between Marion and Elliot; Marion and April. And perfectly performances from all 3 Aprils. The film itself was excellent British drama. The lead character played by Dakota Blue Richards is portrayed very well, complete with teenage acne. One error I remarked, the young April was shown writing left handed when doing her drawings while the 14 year old is shown as right handed. ooops.... Great Drama. 3 1/2 stars <a href="http://s420.photobucket.com/albums/pp286/ladypink_2009/?action=view¤t=Dustbin_Baby_1209627c1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i420.photobucket.com/albums/pp286/ladypink_2009/Dustbin_Baby_1209627c1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
  Daisy M Super Reviewer

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