Catch Me Daddy *** (2014, Sameena Jabeen Ahmed, Connor McCarron, Gary Lewis) – Movie Review

Co writer-director Daniel Wolfe‘s hard-hitting, gritty, well-made Brit thriller can boast a refreshingly different take thanks to the grungy locations around Sheffield, desperate film noir-style characters and strikingly unusual visuals. The stark and stylish cinematography by Robbie Ryan is quite extraordinary – maybe the most distinguished feature of the fairly distinguished movie.

Laila is a young Pakistani woman on the run from her family, hiding out in West Yorkshire with Aaron, the boy who loves her. When her brother arrives in town with a gang of thugs, she is forced to flee for her life with the nice, resourceful Aaron. Gary Lewis is nasty and creepy as the menacing Tony.

Catch Me Daddy is admirable, but it is relentlessly bleak and violent, keeping it quite high as an art object but entertaining value quite low. All the way through, I was hoping against hope for a happy ending, at least for Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) if not for her drifter boyfriend Aaron (Connor McCarron).

[Spoiler alert] But, alas, that was never going to happen. The ending is bleak and depressing. the final shot is ambiguous, though I took it that Laila was hanged, but maybe not. It’s funny how you can admire a film and still leave it feeling depressed. I guess that means here that it’s worked its intended magic.

Matthew Wolfe is co-writer. There is plenty of suspense throughout and a well-sustained atmosphere of menace, both in the writing and direction. And you do care for the characters and are concerned about their fate, with the actors helping to make it all believable. So, bleak it may be, but this must be counted a promising first feature from the Wolfe brothers.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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