Helen

Stars: Annie Townsend, Danny Groenland, Sonia Saville, Dennis Jobling, Sandie Malia

Director: Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor

Good looking films to snooze by, number 50. Unfortunately, Ole Birkeland's lustrous photography is the only plus point of a drama for which slight is hardly an adequate word.

There are about 20 minutes of story. A girl goes missing, presumably murdered, and a care-home girl, Helen (Townsend), is selected to play her in a police reconstruction. Helen finds herself becoming fascinated by the missing girl and insinuates herself (initially on their invite) into the lives of her distraught parents.

As Helen is exploring a relationship with the girl's boyfriend (Groenland) and beginning to come to grips with her own past, the film ends in the middle, with the disappearance unexplained and Helen's future unresolved.

A shortish running time is padded out with long-held shots of trees, pastoral scenes and a slow zoom into nighttime nothingness. Not surprisingly, the film is painfully slow, though the acting isn't bad. As a calling card for its young directors, though, it doesn't even hit the doormat.

David Quinlan

UK/Ireland 2008. UK Distributor: New Wave. Colour by deluxe.
79 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 30 Apr 2009