Catch Me Daddy

Stars: Sameena Jabeen Ahmed, Connor McCarron, Gary Lewis, Barry Nunney

Director: Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe

Films come no grimmer nor bleaker than this long-winded drama set on the Yorkshire moors, to which haven Laila (Ahmed), a girl of Pakistani heritage, has fled with her white lover (McCarron). Even as they enjoy their freedom in a big caravan, the girl's father has paid two men (Lewis, Nunney) to bring her back, while her brother, with whom she may or may not have been having an incestuous relationship, and three of his friends are also on her trail.

Scenes of the fugitives' pursuit by night, brilliantly shot by Robbie Ryan, do briefly enliven the film - following a tragic death as the girl fights to evade capture. But there is no escape from the consequences of this, and misery and death hang over the moors (and the film) like a pall.

The characters, even the girl, are deeply unlovable, and constantly on the point of hysteria; most of them seem to be heavily dependent on drugs. How this black little drama manages to run close to two hours, only the Wolfe brothers know; but shame on them for wasting Nichola Burley and Kate Dickie in such unrewarding and very minor roles.

David Quinlan

UK 2014. UK Distributor: StudioCanal (BFI/Film Four). Colour by deluxe.
114 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 3, Swearing 3.

Review date: 22 Feb 2015