If this was an American film, lessons would be learned and resentment eased, in a neat “I was never the same after that summer” trope. But it’s not: it’s British, full of warm days and familial complications. Effortlessly directed by comic actor Simon Bird, it’s a little like Mike Leigh, if lighter and more incidental in tone.
Sue Bagnold (Monica Dolan)is forced to spend summer with her son Daniel (Earl Cave) when her estranged husband decides he’d rather not see his son, so close to having another child. Problem is, he and his new wife are based in Florida and Daniel had been promised a trip out there, only for the couple to renege at the last minute.
And so, the resentment grows. The sense of tension between Sue and Daniel is palpable: he’s a taciturn metal kid; she’s a frumpy lost soul who’s rather given up, tiring of her school librarian job, and life in general.
The film’s effectively an astute character study.Daniel’s individuation is expressed through grunts and sighs, while Sue just can’t accept that her sweet baby boy is now in his mid -teens.
The dialogue’s extremely funny and the situations beautifully observed. Cave and Dolan are an excellent comic pairing, because they feel so authentic, and there’s also brilliant support from Rob Brydon as a sleazy teacher, Tamsin Greig as an insufferably smug hippy neighbour, and Alice Lowe as Sue’s outspoken sister.
It’s mostly just two people plodding along, though, underwhelmed and under-stimulated in an Anytown, UK: no learning, no resolution – just two people related but struggling to connect, thrown together like a pair of odd socks. It’s eccentric, funny, and a little bit devastating, a lovely film.
Hit The North 