A Greyhound of a Girl (2023)

A Greyhound of a Girl (2023). 1h 25m

“The young u0026quot;Maryu0026quot; has travelled the length of Ireland to submit her recipe to an exclusive cookery school. They deride it as bland to the chagrin of her feisty grandmother who promises that theyu0026#39;ll be back. Itu0026#39;s on their lengthy drive afterwards that we discover something of the close bond between them and that sheu0026#39;s got quite a nasty cough. Back home, her mother u0026quot;Scarlettu0026quot; is concerned at events that end up with the old lady in hospital with, according to the nervous u0026quot;Dr. Patelu0026quot;, not too long to go. Itu0026#39;s around this time that the youngster meets u0026quot;Anastasiau0026quot; in the woods. She is a sympathetic and slightly enigmatic soul who assures the girl that everything will be u0026quot;grandu0026quot; – but who is she? She knows things she shouldnu0026#39;t but not in a malevolent fashion. When she eventually meets granny, things begin to make a little sense as the four women travel/abscond to her abandoned childhood home in County Wexford. It does meander a little too much: there are far too many animated equivalents of establishing and beauty shots, and there isnu0026#39;t a great deal of jeopardy as the plot unravels rather predictably. That doesnu0026#39;t matter so much, though, as this adaptation of Roddy Doyleu0026#39;s story of family, love, life and … death manages to hit home in a subtle and friendly fashion. The art work itself is a little two dimensional, with most of the visual emphasis on the big-eyed faces but try to stay focussed on the colcannon that you can almost smell. Thereu0026#39;s a simple charm to this story and it does leave you with a slightly warm feeling when you leave the cinema afterwards.”