(15) 81min
(Network)

Despite garnering acclaim for his 1999 clubber comedy Human Traffic, writer/director Justin Kerrigan hasn’t made a movie since. Making the decade-long wait worthwhile, the Cardiff-based writer-director returns with a moving and semi-autobiographical tale about that horrible moment when you realise your parents aren’t perfect.

Said parent is special operative and single father Frankie (Robert Carlyle, excellent), a man dedicated to his adolescent son, Jamie (Arron Fuller). While Frankie promises a new life in America after one final mission, his increasingly unstable behaviour shows Jamie that Dad isn’t quite the hero he seems.

The grotty working-class suburbia of ’80s Wales is grim, but this is a deeply personal project. As an act of catharsis and simultaneous tribute to his late father, Kerrigan fashions a few poignant and bittersweet moments, which are helped no end by Guy Farley’s affecting score. Extras include Kerrigan’s video diaries.