Daddy's Girl

Yet another dark, depressing short British Film. I don't think I've ever watched a short film, or a British feature in years, that hasn't either been way too throwaway, or too serious for its own good, and 'Daddy's Girl' firmly falls into the latter category. Could anything be more depressing than sitting through ten minutes of watching a little girl standing alone outside in the pouring rain, in a downtrodden council estate, outside the run-down local pub that her alcoholic father is sitting getting drunk inside? What is even more depressing is that distributors seem to have an unending appetite for churning out these predictable, formulaic and deeply patronising short films, and that British films seem to only ever be like 'Daddy's Girl' or rags-to riches stories like the deeply over-rated 'Full Monty' or 'Billy Elliot', or gangster rubbish like 'Lock Stock...'. Shane Meadows does this sort of thing much better. 'Daddy's Girl' contains nothing of interest whatsoever. (* out of *****)

This prize winning film has been rewarded with a general release in the UK, a rarity for a short these days, though seniors like myself remember when it was quite usual. The "plot" is that a 7 year old girl is waiting for her father outside a bar in the pouring rain, in a dreary part of Glasgow. While waiting, and becoming soaking wet, she has several encounters, before her father emerges, revealing himself, as we expected, to be a foul-mouthed brute. There is hardly any relief to the film's gloomy mood, and watching it, even for only 11 minutes, is quite depressing. The acting, however, is excellent, especially Heather Keenan as neglected waif, Teenie. Let's hope that director Irvine Allan and others involved move on to less sombre vehicles for their talent, and that these also receive a general release.