There is a sweet love story nestled within this mild comedy drama about a grizzled Scotsman who travels to San Francisco for medical treatment and to reconnect with his adult son (JJ Feild). While on US soil, Rory MacNeil (Brian Cox – the Scottish one) is adopted by the neighbouring university’s linguists, recounting the mythology behind his favourite Gaelic words and phrases. This stubborn regard for tradition emerges at home too, as he refuses to abide with the cold modernity of his son’s US lifestyle.
The film is preoccupied with Rory’s fraught family relationships (though he soon softens at the sight of his redheaded baby grandson), but I found myself more interested in the romantic subplot. Indeed, I’d have happily watched Cox flirt with Rosanna Arquette’s museum curator for 90 minutes; her game attempts to parrot his Gaelic and a tentative kiss while gardening, knee-deep in soil, are strangely charming.
