Some British dude with a slinky around his neck said that, like, 50 years ago. Well, in NEDS, writer/director Peter Mullan demonstrates that overachieving Scottish boys can fester as well, and the result is pretty damn cool.

NEDS (or Non-Educated Delinquents to those that haven’t read this blurb) focuses on John McCill, a teenage boy with a bright future who lives in the shadow of his troublemaker older brother. As the streets come calling to young John, he is left with no semblance of support structure, and finds himself cracking skulls and misbehaving to save his life and his sanity. Study hall turns into make-out sessions and skull-cracking.

Movies about good people falling apart are always gold, and this one seems raise the bar for the genre.