You would expect the Brits to attack the subject of child prostitution in a gritty non-romantic way which they`ve done with Stella Does Tricks. First-time director Coky Giedroyc was inspired by her own documentary on homelessness which she made for Channel 4 and working with screenwriter Al Kennedy they`ve come up with a confronting but tremendously effective story about 15 year old Stella -- Kelly MacDonald -- whose work life and sex life is dominated by her middle-aged pimp Mr Peters -- James Bolam... the connection with child sex-abuse is established subtly through flashbacks, but this is a film in which the spirit of the central character, Stella is the driving force.Without the performance of Kelly MacDonald you actually wonder where this film would have gone -- Stella is a child involved in a woman`s game, she`s vunerable, able to be manipulated but she`s alive. MacDonald is beautiful and true in the role, you might remember her from Trainspotting. James Bolam has some uneasy patches in a difficult role but this is partially due to the screenplay. Hans Matheson is convincing as Eddie, Stella`s would-be if he could-be boyfriend and Ewan Stewart does fine work as Stella`s father. Coky Giedroyc has tackled her confronting subject matter with courage and without prurience - Stella`s world is revealed in matter-of-fact sordidness ... you long for this human spirit that`s been terribly wounded to survive and triumph. There are some aspects of the film that you feel have been overemphasised, but not the sex scenes.
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