Daniel Wolfe’s debut movie arrives in the UK after its premiere at Cannes last year: a tough drama about contemporary Britain’s tribal and gender politics. This is ambitious work from a promising talent. There are big scenes, bold ideas and great images – created with Robbie Ryan’s tremendous cinematography. It is based on the murderous phenomenon of “honour killing” in British Pakistani communities. When Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) runs away to be with her white boyfriend, Aaron (Conor McCarron), her family hires a posse of tough guys to get her back, a little like John Ford’s The Searchers.
It’s brutal, nihilistic and often deeply pessimistic, but conjures moments of lyrical beauty from the landscape. There is a kind of innocence in the couple’s existence simply because of how little they know about life – and each other. But Wolfe shows Aaron is in danger of becoming simply another controlling male figure, not very different from the father and brothers Laila has escaped. In a very ironic scene, we see the stern posse leader, Junaid (Anwar Hussain), having a 3D picture taken with his baby daughter in a shopping mall. Wolfe raises the awful suspicion that one day this child could be subject to the same treatment. Catch Me Daddy is flawed, with some social-realist cliches and glib representations of violence; still, Wolfe shows energy and purpose. After watching this again, I listened to Janis Joplin’s Catch Me Daddy, after which the film is named. There is the same raw, emotional abrasion.
