Trash Reviews
May 17, 2019
Trash is a magical film, possessing the ability to simultaneously anger you and lift your spirits as you are taken for a thrilling ride through the injustice of life in Rio de Janeiro.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
April 4, 2019
Daldry has a rare talent... for drawing out the very best from young actors. The sheer joy and energy of the boys propels Trash and keeps us rooting for good over evil despite the contrived ending.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
February 20, 2016
This effectively tense adventure also delivers the heart and heroism audiences love.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
December 22, 2015
The Richard Curtis script has Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen running about Rio evading cliched baddies - and they are outshone by the wonderfully energetic young trio, who turn muck into brass.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
October 9, 2015
A diverting two hours, and an excellent reminder of the wide world of stories out there waiting to be told.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
October 9, 2015
Has definite moments of sheer cinematic excitement.
October 9, 2015
Three boys living in a garbage dump in Rio de Janeiro stumble across evidence of a local politician's corruption in this uneasy mix of social-issue drama and escapist thriller.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
October 9, 2015
An intensive, propulsive political thriller representing a tautly executed return to form for director Stephen Daldry.
October 8, 2015
Creates a whirlwind of events, but it only rarely achieves authority, as Daldry has trouble balancing the endeavor's restless cinematic interests and its sticky cultural pleas.
Full Review
| Original Score: B-
October 7, 2015
Comparisons to "Slumdog Millionaire" are inevitable, but the kinetic "Trash" has a rhythm all its own.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
October 5, 2015
A crowd-pleasing film that resembles "Slumdog Millionaire" albeit without that film's complexities, "Trash" contrasts Rio's gorgeous beaches with its notorious favelas and has strong performances from three youths.
Full Review
| Original Score: B
June 27, 2015
Adapting Andy Mulliagn's young-adult novel, screenwriter Richard Curtis and director Stephen Daldry strike a deft balance between escapism and grit.
May 22, 2015
Though it endeavours to speak of a specific time, place and set of social issues, Trash is best seen as a fairytale unravelling in life-like, modern-day surroundings.
May 1, 2015
A first-rate film, full of heart and hope.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
April 30, 2015
Trash may not always convince, but is still at all times an engaging drama.
February 1, 2015
Director Stephen Daldry rediscovers the upbeat oomph that powered his debut feature Billy Elliot, finding hope and humour amid the squalor and violence of the narrative's darker turns.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
January 30, 2015
A jaunty, gorgeously-acted thriller about three teens from the slums of Rio, who - when one of them finds a wallet in a pile of garbage - become entangled in the affairs of a corrupt mayoral candidate.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
January 30, 2015
Cynics will scoff at a feelgood direction at odds with the real plight of Brazilian's poor...but this is about hope rather than expectation.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
January 29, 2015
The three non-professionals playing the rubbish-sifting comrades exude a believable solidarity and charismatic energy, though Brazilian star Selton Mello overdoes his role as a sadistic cop.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
January 29, 2015
Trash is an honourable addition to the list of films about Brazilian street kids that stretches back to Hctor Babenco's Pixote and Walter Salles's Central Station.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5