Steeped in the sort of whimsy that makes a certain strain of American indie cinema films so distinctive/unwatchable, depending on your POV, British writer/director Rachel Tunnard’s modest debut is quietly impressive, winning best supporting actor and best debut screenwriter at the British Independent Film Awards.
Anna (Jodie Whitaker from Attack The Block) is nearly 30 – still getting spots and grey hairs – and sleeping in her mum’s (actually quite nice) shed in rural Yorkshire following a family tragedy. Here she makes silly videos like she used to with her brother (Edward Hogg, Kill Your Friends), shutting out the real world, her life halted by loss. She has a job at an outward bound centre run by Alice (Alice Lowe, Sightseers), and deflects the attentions of childhood friend Brendan (Brett Goldstein, TV’s Derek), who swears he’s not gay, he just wore pink shorts once on a French exchange trip and has a soft voice. Her mum (Lorraine Ashbourne, The Selfish Giant) says she needs to grow up; her gran (Eileen Davis, Sightseers) that she needs to get laid. Probably they’re both right.
As Anna goes about picking up those all-important Adult Life Skills (“Like changing a car tyre, or sowing or sending something back in a restaurant,” offers Brendan), Tunnard’s script navigates potentially hackneyed material with wonky charm. Though Micah P Hinson’s yearning Americana is a little overindulged, the film has a core of cold grief, some great lines and a cast full of likeable performers. Fans of Hunt for the Wilderpeople will find much to admire.
‘Adult Life Skills’ movie times
