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| Dreamy-eyed Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) in Catch Me Daddy--Daniel Wolfe (2014) |
I have a very short list of films that have left me breathless upon first screening them, often rendering me speechless and too stunned to move in the face of the film's beauty and power. Daniel and Matthew Wolfe deliver such an experience with
Catch Me Daddy (2014), and it is certainly one of the most riveting films I've seen this year. Robbie Ryan's cinematography is so startlingly lovely, I could watch it as a silent film--although that would be a disservice to a film that so loves Patti Smith and channels her heartbreaking, rebellious spirit.
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| Aaron (Connor McCarron) and Laila are on the run |
Some of the film's tropes are familiar, but they are still explored in a unique manner. Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) and Aaron (Connor McCarron) are a young couple in love and on the run, at odds with their respective families. Laila works in a hair salon by day, conveniently forgetting her papers when asked for them by her co-worker. Aaron seems to be cooking drugs while ostensibly "looking for work." They rendezvous in the evening in their tiny caravan on the Yorkshire moors, where the flickering colors of glowing butterfly lights illuminate their modest little home. Here they can be themselves, far away from the people from which they hide. Or so they believe.
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| Tony (Gary Lewis) conveys equal parts menace and despair |
The couple are being hunted by two very different sets of thugs. First, we meet two white British blokes who give off a significant degree of menace. The film introduces us to Tony (Gary Lewis) as he snorts some drugs off a CD case. He proceeds to do this in every bathroom he encounters. He's soon joined by Barry (Barry Nunney), who's kind of a dipsh** but still plenty threatening. These two guys do not say much, and that cold silence, especially emanating off of Tony, gives viewers a hint of the coiled violence lurking within them, waiting to erupt for the right payday. I surmised that they are after Aaron for some drug-related shenanigans.
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| Bilal (Adrian Hussain) is a sweet daddy when he isn't bounty hunting |
The other gang of thugs are sent by Laila's father, Tariq (Wasim Zakir), to track down Laila, and bring her back to the fold after the shame she has brought on her Pakistani family. Bilal (Adrian Hussain) is joined by Junaid (Anwar Hussain), Shoby (Shoby Kaman), and Laila's brother, Zaheer (Ali Ahmad). The fact that they carry plastic sheeting in the back of their SUV suggests that their intentions are far from peaceful. This group teams up with the British blokes to hunt the couple down. The film maintains a quiet ominousness throughout as the hunting parties just narrowly miss the couple, their car headlights cutting through the majestic moors with deadly purpose. Unfortunately, Laila and Aaron cannot outrun their pursuers forever, and the film's climax will haunt you long after the film ends.
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| Laila's no longer her father's "Chum Chum" (a Pakistani dessert) |
What gives
Catch Me Daddy its power, beyond the film's breathtaking cinematography and nuanced performances, is the way in which it humanizes the bad guys. While viewers are largely rooting for Laila, both Tony and Bilal are shown softer, more humane sides. The fact that both of these men can be loving fathers toward their daughters while participating in the violent persecution of another young woman adds to the film's moral tensions. Even Tariq, the film's clearest villain, is a man layered with emotional complexities. The spectre of the contemptuous practice of honor killing haunts the film's every moment, and creates a building horror that permeates the film like a slow-acting poison--one that reveals the monster inside all of these "loving" patriarchs. The film beautifully tells an horrifying story. I found
Catch Me Daddy absolutely heartbreaking. See it as soon as possible.
