Shell

There are still places in the far north west of Scotland where you can drive for miles and scarcely see a house, with vast uninhabited moors between the roads, but for the most part, life in these parts is a story of small, remote communities that are communities nonetheless. Scott Graham's film takes us to lonelier place, however, the story of a young woman living an unhealthily close life with her needy, epileptic father: this might not be a normal life even in the highlands, but this a certainly a place where the daily practice of separation from others could lead to emotional isolation. The film follows the maxim of "show don't tell", which is often a good one; but here we only see a bleak portrait of empty lives, with exemplary incidents but little narrative: it's almost impossible to judge anyone as "good", "bad", or even "likeable" this far outside the normal physical and moral terrain. It's not an awful film, but a dash of something - humour, plot, malice - would not have gone amiss.