By Maahin
Writer/Director brother-duo Matthew and Daniel Wolfe’s film has already received a fair bit of critical appreciation, having screened at Cannes, then the London Film Festival, and also being nominated for the British Independent Film Awards. And rightly so, I think. It isn’t perfect, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, taking me by surprise a number of times.
Leila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) , a runaway, lives with her boyfriend (Conor McCarron) in a caravan at the end of the moors of a small Yorkshire town, living off whatever they can earn. When she is finally tracked down by her brother and his hired men, his attempt to get her to come back home goes horrible wrong, leading to the men chasing Leila and Aaron through Yorkshire.
A film about a Pakistani runaway girl could have become really clichéd, as could have a film about bounty hunters. But Catch Me Daddy turns into neither of those two films it seems like it might be setting out to become. Instead, you have something that feels honest, and unfolds slowly, one small detail at a time. Some details we never get to, which could have made some choices clearer, but the Wolfe brothers seem certain we don’t need them. It’s more of a this-moment-now story, than a deep exploration into Leila’s family life, though it does touch on why she got where she is.
The only real let down of the film is performances. Sameena Jabeen Ahmed and Conor McCarron are fine, as are bounty hunters Gary Lewis and Barry Nunney, but there’s something disconnected about the rest of the Pakistani characters, and I don’t think there’s an argument for it being an intentional choice. A lot of their dialogues are in Urdu/Punjabi, which I imagine would have been tricky for the Wolfe’s to direct, but then they should have had less of it. Their attempt at authenticity makes those scenes that little bit less believable.
Visually the film is quite amazing. The setting is rundown towns and rural areas in Yorkshire, so it isn’t going to be an eye-popping spectacle, but the look complements the mood and story of the film well. The music choices are interestingly unexpected, and don’t necessarily go with the setting of the film, but they definitely work.
I think the fact that I wasn’t expecting it to go the way it did, and as far as it did certainly increases my appreciation of it. I don’t know how realistic I would say it is though. It’s a shame that the film is let down by some of the performances, and the difficulty of some of the accents, but on many levels it’s a wonderful film.
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