''Pin Cushion'' is a 2017 English-language film written and directed by Deborah Haywood, her feature film debut. ''Pin Cushion'' premiered as the opening film of International Critics' Week at the

74th Venice International Film Festival The 74th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2017. The jury president was announced as the actress Annette Bening on 5 July 2017. '' Downsizing'', directed by Alexander Payne, was selected to open ...

and was released in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2018.

Plot

Mother Lyn and daughter Iona (a.k.a. Dafty One and Dafty Two) are excited to be starting a new life in a small Midlands town. Determined to make a success of things after a tricky start at a new school, the gawky Iona becomes ‘best friends’ with Keeley, Stacey and Chelsea. Used to having Iona to herself, Lyn feels left out and tries unsuccessfully to make her own friends starting with Belinda, her sour-faced neighbour. As much as Lyn and Iona pretend to each other that things are going well, Iona struggles with schoolmates who act more like 'frenemies' than friends, and Lyn is treated with varying degrees of indifference by neighbours and a supposed support group.

Cast

Lily Newmark Lily Inge Newmark (born 24 May 1994) is an actress and former model. She is best known for her roles in the film '' Pin Cushion'' (2017), the Netflix series ''Sex Education'' (2019–2020) and '' Cursed'' (2020), and the Sky One series ''Templ ...

as Iona *

Joanna Scanlan Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in British series such as ''The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), '' Getting On'' (2009–2012), ''Puppy Love'' (2014), and ''No Offence'' ( ...

as Lyn * Loris Scarpa as Daz * Sacha Cordy-Nice as Keeley *

Bethany Antonia Bethany Antonia (born 25 December 1997) is an English actress. As of 2022 she plays Lady Baela Targaryen in the HBO ''fantasy'' series ''House of the Dragon''. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC iPlayer teen series '' Get Even ...

as Chelsea * Saskia Paige-Martin as Stacie * Sophia Tuckey as Peggy *

John Henshaw John Joseph Henshaw (born August 1950) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in ''Early Doors'', Wilf Bradshaw in ''Born and Bred'' and PC Roy Bramwell in '' The Cops.'' Often associated with characters who are ...

as Percy * Lennon Bradley as Sam * Aury Wayne as Sicko * Charles Francis as Dwayne *

Isy Suttie Isobel Jane "Isy" Suttie (; born 11 August 1978) is a British musical comedian, actress, and writer. She played Dobby in the British sitcom ''Peep Show'', and in 2013 won the gold Sony Radio Academy Award for her radio show ''Pearl And Dave''. ...

as Anne * Jacob Lee as Jordan *

Chanel Cresswell Chanel Cresswell (born 23 January 1990) is an English actress, known for playing Kelly Jenkins in the film ''This Is England'' (2006) and the three subsequent series ''This Is England '86'' (2010), '' This Is England '88'' (2011) and ''This I ...

as Belinda *

Nadine Coyle Nadine Elizabeth Louise Coyle (born 15 June 1985) is an Irish singer, actress and model. In 2002, Coyle was selected as a member of the girl group Girls Aloud, with whom she has been successful in achieving a string of 20 consecutive UK top ten ...

as Air Hostess

Production

''Pin Cushion'' was filmed in Haywood's home town of

Swadlincote Swadlincote is a former mining town in the district of South Derbyshire, England, lying within The National Forest area. It borders the counties of Leicestershire and Staffordshire, south-east of Burton upon Trent and north-west of Ashby-de ...

South Derbyshire South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population of the local authority at the 2011 Census was 94,611. It contains a third of the National Forest, and the council offices are in Swadlincote. The district a ...

, with locations including the interior of Gresley Old Hall in

Church Gresley Church Gresley is a large village and former civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. The village is situated between Castle Gresley and the town of Swadlincote, with which it is contiguous. By the time of the 2011 ...

, the interior and exterior of The Pingle Academy, the exterior of the Town Hall, and in West Street to the High Street in the town centre, and a scene filmed in Burton Queen's Hospital. The house the main characters move into can be found in Hastings Road, Swadlincote. Haywood chose to shoot part of the film at her old school because she "had such an awful time there. Before the film I used to close my eyes when I would drive past, now when I drive past I have great memories of making a film there." The graffiti written about her in the past had been painted over in the intervening years.

Reception

''Pin Cushion'' has received positive reviews from critics. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 89%, based on 36 reviews with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Pin Cushion'' explores the prickly dynamics of mother-daughter relationships and female friendships, led by striking work from leads Lily Newmark and Joanna Scanlan."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gives the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film was described by ''The Guardian'' as an "ecstasy of black comic misery and cartoon horror".

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 6190348
BFI: 10 Great Films About Troubled Mother-Daughter Relationships
2017 films 2017 drama films Films shot in Derbyshire Films set in England Films about bullying Films about sexuality Films scored by Natalie Holt 2010s English-language films