Catch Me Daddy (2014) Reviews

• A gritty raw movie worth watching

  jumpdates2015-10-01

  One word is all that I can say about this movie "Raw'. It's a movie designed not to please or entertain but just a gritty story line of a chase that unfolds into a torrential end. As you watch the movie, you start looking for clues to it's purpose and then you settle into your chair and let the movie carry you. The characters are presented in a very raw form, no refinement but unadulterated compilation of characters with dialogue that bring the film to life. You don't guess, you watch and you witness people's demons and the measures they take to bring sanity and balance to their lives. A truly well executed movie that is worth watching.

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• Great build-up leads to a flat conclusion.

  tbaio-258662015-11-23

  Catch Me Daddy builds suspense & tension throughout its running time. It is very engaging due to the story revolving around sympathetic lead characters. This is why it ends up being somewhat disappointing when the audience is not given a definitive conclusion to the story. The story is pretty much a chase movie where a couple are being pursued by the brothers of the female along with hired thugs who plan to take the female back to their native home (she is from Pakistan but ran away to England to live with her boyfriend). For a simple & low budget movie, everything works; the locations, performances & action all shine. The script gains extra points when exposing the underlying tension between the English thugs & Pakistani family as well as how women are treated in Pakistani culture.....its disturbing. Then however, just when the pace & visceral intensity are both amped up, the story is concluded. And as a result, there are many questions left open. As to what happens to certain characters, that too is rendered a mystery. In the end, it really feels as though the movie was released even though it was unfinished. In conclusion, the film is a well shot & well told story that will leave the viewer with questions to ponder & answer for themselves.

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• Fine Indie film of love, honour and betrayal.

  t-dooley-69-3869162015-10-14

  The plot is fairly simple; Leila is on the run from her family, she is hiding in Yorkshire with her boyfriend Aaron. Her brother then rocks up into town with his crew of ne'er do wells and some hired hands who are also less than appealing. They are going to leave no stone unturned in their search for the seemingly errant Leila and as ever violence begets violence and so begins a deadly chase. Now this is a really good film; it has enough tension to make you wear the edge of your seat out. The characters are brutally realised and the acting is superb. It is visceral, taught and realistic. Made with help from Film 4 and Screen Yorkshire this is a film that has used that support wisely and given a platform to showcase some real talent. Sameena Jabeen Ahmed puts in a show stopping performance as Leila, the sometimes under rated Gary Lewis ('Outlander' and 'Filth') as Tony manages to shine – for all the right reasons - in a role that at first seemed peripheral. This will be a film that will not be liked by some and the way things pan out is surprising, but that is fine by me I like to be challenged by a plot. Director Daniel Wolfe, who co-wrote this, has made a feature length film that he should be proud of and hopefully will lead to us seeing more from him in the very near future.

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• powerful but problematic

  stilladvance2015-03-20

  very powerful, and pretty impressive as a hybrid of British art- house and thriller conventions, even if these two strands of its makeup never sit entirely comfortably against each other. there's little that hasn't been seen in the films of other European socio-realist directors (i kept thinking of Ulrich seidl, Clio Bernard and Brno Dumont as well as tiny bit of ken loach, though this has little of loach's generosity or compassion) but the Wolfe's obviously know a thing or two about gut-piercing drama, they just stick too conveniently to the surface of the subject they are focusing on. it feels a little too easy to take such a sensitive subject and treat it merely as thriller fodder. yes it has some sensitive scenes, and the last scene is almost unbearable to watch (i left feeling scarred) but it is also just reveling in ethnic stereotypes in how there is not one redeemable Asian man on screen. so while you could say there are no redeeming men of any background on screen (or that it is not the job of every film to deal with this, but i would say for a film tackling this subject, and a group who are routinely represented poorly in the mainstream, it is an important detail, esp when there have been very few films dealing with these themes - catch me daddy seems close to becoming exploitation, albeit dressed up in art-house clothing), the older white bounty hunter at least appears to care somewhat, as does the white boyfriend. does it drive home the absolute horror of the situation as it should? yes. but it also relishes that horror a little too uneasily/problematically. it is essentially just reinforcing the audience's preconceived notions of Pakistani/south Asian communities, with Asian men as brutes, white men as saviours, Asian girls as victims, with little to challenge or colour around that - so while the film might appear superficially bold, its also somewhat thin on understanding its subject beyond very basic circumstances. but i imagine the Wolfe's would make good British genre movie makers, which the UK could probably do with more of. they're great filmmakers, I'm just not sure if they are particularly mature as storytellers.

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• A Stunning Tragedy with a Twist...

  dudpatti2015-05-12

  'Catch Me Daddy' is a disturbingly charged and viscerally moving film with superb cinematography and timing which juxtaposes a stunning modern day Yorkshire Dales landscape with a alienated feel of tombstone... You almost expect tumbleweed to roll by at some point... The powerful symbolism and imagery draws you into hidden world full of hidden meanings yet it still manages to challenge viewers to think about the injustices portrayed, which are real in a modern world and the uncomfortable subjects of revenge, killing for honour and respect and lawlessness. The use of unknown actors in the lead roles is a genius move and really brings home the realism of the subject matter without sensationalising the issue of young girls and women being murdered for honour and respect. Directed by the Wolfe brothers and produced by EMU Films, two British collaborations (and not too British) are making a name for themselves and are the ones to watch in the near future.

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