THE ROAD DANCE (15)
★★★II
In 1916, the spectre of the First World War casts a lengthening shadow over the Isle of Lewis.
Murdo Macaulay (Will Fletcher) returns to the village of Gearrannan from Glasgow, where his skills as a typist have been employed to send telegrams to families of the fallen. He is reunited with sweetheart Kirsty Macleod (Hermione Corfield), but universal conscription threatens to tear the lovebirds apart. Murdo vows to marry Kirsty upon his return.
The night before Murdo and neighbours Angus (Luke Nunn), Calum (Scott Miller) and Iain (Tom Byrne) leave for the mainland, the entire community rallies for an alcohol-soaked dance under the stars. Kirsty rebuffs an unwanted overture from Iain and shortly after, she is sexually assaulted.
After the conscripts have departed and Kirsty silently prepares for the shame she will bring on her mother Mairi (Morven Christie) and younger sister Annie (Ali Fumiko Whitney) as an expectant mother out of wedlock.
The Road Dance is a handsomely mounted period drama that sways to familiar narrative rhythms.
■ In cinemas Friday