Days of the Bagnold Summer

Days of Bagnold Summer is a realistic if somewhat banal offering with most of the awkwardness you'd expect when seeing the name Simon Bird. There were a few cute moments amongst a lot of (too much) teen angst. The film's saving grace is that the main character's motivations are refreshingly straightforward making him a little bit more sympathetic, with no "holding a mirror to society" ending. The cast of recognisable faces is nice and the performances are good, even if the film is a bit slow.

Heartwarming, melancholy and relatable whether you know someone like the characters or identify as them yourself. Not a masterpiece but I've seen much worse directorial debuts. I look forward to Simon Bird's future projects and would happily rewatch this again.

Verrrrrry low-key coming-of-age comedy looks beautiful (and Dolan and Cave strike a nicely contentious parent-child dynamic), but having set up an intriguing array of quirky, likable eccentrics, the screenplay doesn't seem to know what to do with them, leaving some frustratingly underdeveloped dead-ends (especially an enjoyably smarmy bit for an underused Brydon). Pleasant enough, but aimless and inconsequential.

Quite sweet at its heart. Does rather rely on some fairly lazy stereotypes of the teen-parent dynamic, but some very nice performances.

If you like those quaint movies that move a little slow and show you a reality you maybe are unfamiliar with, or recognize and find amusing, this is your movie. It is not my movie.

Occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, this melancholic film captures the mother-son dynamic beautifully. Both leads are great but Dolan is particularly wonderful. A shame that the supporting characters are so underdeveloped - a promising Brydon, in particular, is wasted. But more than enough to recommend this highly, and it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Low key, good hearted but quite accurate snapshot of a teenage son single mum relationship.

Very accurate portrait of teenage life (we'll it was mine).