Film Reviews

Albatross

• Rating:
• Director: Niall MacCormick
• Starring: Felicity Jones
• Details: UK / 90mins (15A).

What could have been a charming coming of age drama, Albatross is offset by a character that is too irritating to root for.

17-year-old school dropout Emelia (Jessica Brown Findlay, Downtown Abbey) is a rebellious sort; hurting over the suicide of her mother and stuck in a sleepy seaside town, Emelia's talent for writing goes unnoticed even though she claims to be the great-granddaughter of Arthur Conan Doyle. That is until she lands a job, her second to support her grandparents, as a maid in a B&B owned by blocked writer Jonathan (Koch, The Lives Of Others), his narky wife Joa (Ormond) and studious daughter Beth (Jones, Chalet Girl). A dysfunctional family, Emelia's presence excites Jonathan and Beth, who both have a crush on the outspoken teen...
The enjoyment of Albatross weighs solely on the shoulders of Emelia, the epicentre of the story, and it's touch and go. Writer Tamzin Rafn has written a firecracker of a character who lobs this bomb into the middle of this family's problems and sits back and watches everything explode. Emelia has the spirit of Emily Lloyd's Lynda from 1987's Wish You Were Here coursing through her veins: she's rude, a little bit tarty and says exactly what's on her mind with little regard as to how it affects those around her. But where Lynda was looking for elbow room in the years before feminism and sexual liberation, Emelia comes across like a spoiled child who wants to make everyone feel as bad about themselves as she does. Her constant sarcastic comebacks and smart-alecky asides render her an irritation. Thankfully, as the film progresses, these acerbic chirps are cooled, as Emelia comes to terms with her limitations as a writer and her fear that her grandmother is succumbing to Alzheimer's. It's too little, too late though.
Emelia's effect on Jonathan and Joa's marriage is there for all to see; Joa is a bitter that her acting career took off (Ormond is terrifically narky throughout and is afforded the best lines) and doesn't mind throwing her husband's failures since writing his sole hit novel in his face at every available opportunity. For his part, Jonathan's stuck in a rut; blocked and bored, he passes his time looking up porn and flirting with the idea of having an affair with his daughter's friend. Watching Emelia move into this scenario is interesting, but Beth isn't defined well enough before Emelia's arrival for the audience to see the change in the mousy teen Emelia brings about. The inclusion of the everyday rom-com 'tip-toe' music is questionable when used during Albatross' more dramatic moments.
Brown Findlay, Koch, Ormond and Jones are all up to scratch but Albatross' refusal to get out of second gear, and its irksome lead character, proves its undoing.

Review by Gavin Burke