Donkeys

In 2003, Lars von Trier followed up Dogme95 by collaborating with Gillian Berrie, Lone Scherfig and Anders Thomas Jensen on the "Advance Party" project, which would enable three directors to fashion their first feature-length tales around a group of characters with predestined back stories. Andrea Arnold got the ball rolling with Red Road (2006) and Morag McKinnon picked up the ball with this quirky comedy drama about a Glaswegian 60-something rogue (played to the hilt by James Cosmo), whose life is shaken up when he's diagnosed with a terminal illness. Not only are his attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Kate Dickie) suitably poignant, but there is a fascinating turn of events when he realises he's also the father of petty thief Stevie (Martin Compston). The performances are bullish and Lol Crawley's cinematography is typically evocative. But the screenplay is slipshod, McKinnon's direction lacks nuance and the film's critical and commercial failure perhaps explains why Mikkel Norgaard's concluding episode remains in development hell.