Director Daniel Wolfe made his name in music videos (notably the Jake Gyllenhaal hipster-killing video for The Shoes).
For his first foray into feature filmmaking he’s crafted a provocative modern Western that follows the hunt for a young girl.
17-year-old Laila (the hugely impressive Sameena Jabeen Ahmed who recently won Best British Newcomer at the London Film Festival for her performance here) has fled her traditional Muslim family and is on the run with her boyfriend Aaron.
As the couple attempt to set up a discreet new home in the dramatic setting of the Yorkshire Moors – which are made all the more ominous by acclaimed cinematographer Robbie Ryan – two groups of men are on their trail, intent on catching up with the young lovers and exacting a brutal punishment on the orders of Laila’s father.
A work of near-noirish bleakness, Wolfe’s directorial approach combines carefully chosen visual references (from the American Western to the quintessentially English photographs of Martin Parr) and flawless sound design to explore family dynamics, race and class in contemporary Britain.