Light Years

The spectre of mental illness casts shadows during a lazy, hazy English summer in this arthouse drama, marking the feature debut of writer/director Esther May Campbell (a Bafta winner in the short film category). An enigmatic start sees a father (Muhammet Uzuner) walk out on his wise-beyond-her-years pre-teen daughter (promising newcomer Zamira Fuller), while the family's middle sibling (James Stuckey) obsesses over his health and the eldest (Sophie Burton) claims to have been trysting with a possibly imaginary lover, outdoors. The pieces eventually cohere when we meet their mum (folk chanteuse Beth Orton, very strong), currently in care, dealing with a mental condition that she may have passed on to her kids. Everyone seems to have their own coping mechanism in a story that needs a bit more grounding to balance out its eccentric characters. Campbell has obvious trust in her young cast and her own ability to turn everyday settings into a landscape of verdant mystery and imagination. Her elliptical approach will not be to all tastes but is certainly distinctive and results in an intriguing, diaphanous, albeit not wholly convincing tale.