DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER (12)

Released: June 8 (streaming and available to download from Amazon Prime Video, BFI Player, BT TV Store, Curzon Home Cinema, Google Play, iTunes, Sky Store, Virgin Media) Adapted from Joff Winterhart’s graphic novel, Days Of The Bagnold Summer is a coming of (middle) age comedy, which marks the feature directorial debut of Inbetweeners star Simon Bird. Working from a script by his wife Lisa Owens, Bird confidently navigates the rivers of miscommunication between a shy, bookish mother and her truculent teenage son, who face the prospect of spending a miserable summer together. These two misfits are initially sketched as caricatures, barely capable of exchanging a civil word as they wrestle with loneliness and abandonment in pastel-shaded middle-class suburbia. Monica Dolan demonstrates her dramatic range as well as impeccable comic timing as a despairing single parent, who is at her wit’s end trying to find a tiny scrap of common ground with her boy. Bad Seeds singer Nick Cave’s son Earl reeks of sulking, adolescent angst and Tamsin Greig offers amusing support as a hippy Reiki master, who believes her healing hands can salve deep emotional wounds. Days Of The Bagnold Summer charts a predictable narrative trajectory, underscored by a dreamy soundtrack courtesy of Scottish rock band Belle & Sebastian. Loosely structured vignettes, including a toe-curling fudge-making demonstration replete with cameo from comedian Tim Key, tiptoe towards the obligatory catharsis for both lead characters. Damon Smith