Powerful acting from a top-rate cast, including an artlessly charming newcomer, and a steady and confident directorial hand elevate what might have been a run-of-the-mill piece of British suburban miserabilism into something quite special.
Director Norris, a veteran of theatre in the West End and on Broadway, helms a gripping adaptation of Daniel Clay's well-regarded 2008 novel.
Its focus was a single character, Rick - his nickname was Broken Buckley - a sweet but backward 19-year-old living with his parents in a North London cul-de-sac. But, in the screen version, by Irish playwright Mark O'Rowe, Rick is a lesser character than an 11-year-old girl called Skunk (Laurence).
The shift of focus pays due credit to To Kill a Mockingbird, which Clay has named as an inspiration. It also lays a heavy load on young shoulders, but Laurence bears it effortlessly.
Skunk lives with her brother, her solicitor solo father (Roth) and a live-in au pair, Kasia (Marjanovic), across the street from Rick.
