Girl (2023)

Girl (2023). 1h 27m

“Though the narrative is a little too undercooked here, this film does present us with two characterful performances from Déborah Lukumuena and Leu0026#39;Shantey Bonsu. The former is u0026quot;Graceu0026quot; – a woman who lives in a rundown Glasgow high-rise with her daughter u0026quot;Amau0026quot;. Theiru0026#39;s is a loving relationship tinged with a little maternal paranoia. u0026quot;Graceu0026quot; is forced to work as a cleaner at night and the girl is largely forbidden from leaving the flat – for her own safety – and that, naturally, attracts the attention of the social workers and the school teachers who are concerned for their wellbeing. Things are not helped by a decision to rehouse the family as the demolition men are soon to head to their tower block. When u0026quot;Amau0026quot; befriends a neighbour from her school u0026quot;Fionau0026quot; (a nice effort from Liana Turner), the coupleu0026#39;s relationship starts to become severely tested and the two women face the first serious change to the established dynamic of their inter-dependency. The performances do go some way to making this film work, but the absence of context makes it difficult to engage with the story. We donu0026#39;t really know anything about the past that drove them to Scotland. Clearly there has been trauma for u0026quot;Graceu0026quot;, but again – we know very little about what created that trouble. The direction is also very lethargic. Far too many tracking shots, walking to and fro, almost like director Adura Onashile was paddling out a short story into almost ninety minutes. I also found it to be rather over-scored. The paucity of dialogue does work at times, but the sense of loneliness and fear that generates is all to frequently overpowered by the music. Itu0026#39;s an interesting story that is probably illustrative of many families relocated to a strange environment, but I just needed more substance and less meandering images for that to resonate better.”