George (Heffernan), defiant and determined to return to his home in East London, embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita (Saoirse Ronan) searches for her missing son.

Alternately overwhelming and tender, McQueen’s dazzling film offers a multicultural portrait of 1940s London too infrequently seen on screens.

While Ronan and Heffernan emotionally match one another beat for beat, the supporting cast, including Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clémentine, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham, Hayley Squires, and Paul Weller, is uniformly superb, fleshing out a film that feels positively Dickensian in its scope and storytelling.

This film contains flickering or flashing lights that may affect those with photosensitive epilepsy.