Albatross ****
Watching first-time feature director Niall MacCormick’s Albatross reminds you of Emily Lloyd’s confident and unforgettable performance in the 1987 film Wish You Were Here, complete with smart, sexually explorative teen challenging the small-town, small-mindedness and setting a few older hearts a flutter – there are even similarities in the seaside film poster image.
Albatross is about bookish teenager Beth (Felicity Jones) who is desperate to fly the nest of her parents’ seaside hotel on the Isle of Man and explore the world. She meets aspiring novelist, daydreamer and alleged ‘Arthur Conan Doyle’ descendant Emilia (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay) who is working as the new chambermaid, having just arrived in town. Older and more worldly-wise than her years, flirtatious Emilia soon begins an affair with Beth’s frustrated writer father, Jonathan (Sebastian Koch), a one-off- novel success story, that threatens to have devastating consequences.
MacCormick’s contemporary ‘Lolita’ tale has an old-fashioned charm and quintessentially British feel to it, tapping into the English reserve about emotional and sexual encounters, even if it feels a little predictable, it still remains enticing. It’s primarily a bittersweet and rousingly funny tale about getting the best out of the life you live, as well as aspiring to be better.
Brown Findlay is Wish You Were Here‘s Lloyd in spirit, passion and razor-sharp wit, but with far more, darker layers to her character. She is a sassy and fearless gem in this, and totally different from Lady Sybil as we know her. In fact, none of he characters fall prey to two-dimensionality, which is what breathes life into Tamzin Rafn‘s astute relationships script. Jones as Beth is a matched adversary to Emilia, initially in awe of her, like her father and younger sister, but gaining her coming-of-age lesson in an abrupt fashion.
In addition to Brown Findlay, one of the most enjoyable performances comes from Julia Ormond as has-been actress Joa, Beth’s domineering mother and Jonathan’s frustrated wife. Ormond is in a role against type, brilliantly flippant and sarcastically caustic about people and events around her, which seem to be out of her control. What is an absolute treat to watch unfold Joa’s encounters with Emilia throughout, and her an underlying jealousy at the younger woman’s freshness and freedom.
As a debut, MacCormick’s talent in getting the right range of subtle interaction from his solid cast is apparent, only let down by the latter half of the story that falls a little flat and feels too safe and unsatisfactory in conclusion – the film’s own albatross. However, this is a prime showpiece for Brown Findlay’s range of talent, which is far more exciting.
4/5 stars
By @FilmGazer
**WATCH THE TRAILER HERE**
