Laila (Sameena Jabeen Ahmed) a girl in her late teens has run away from her very strict Asian family with her English drifter boyfriend Aaron (Connor McCarron). Shacked up together in a Yorkshire town on the edge of the moors; they live hand to mouth to simply exist.
Aaron is AWOL from the army, while Laila’s family won’t let her run without a fight. Two carloads of bounty hunters roll into town asking questions and flashing a photo of Laila; hard men hired by Laila’s father with her brother in tow to find her to bring her to heel for dishonouring the family.
The subject of the film is based around a topic very much in the forefront of the news over the past few years, The ‘Honour Killing’ and gives as an insight into one girls fight to be independent and break from the tradition of what is expected from her from her family. It is a slow burner, with a lack of any major dialogue from any of its actors and the gloomy setting of the Yorkshire moors and its surroundings really make you question at times what the hell have I let myself in for, but if it wasn’t for the very intense and dark ambience of this it might not be such a compelling watch.
We aren’t thrown directly into the film with any real force and it isn’t until a fair way into the film we actually start to realise what the hell is going on. For the major part of the film we are left watching two groups of men riding around in their cars and asking questions on Laila’s whereabouts, whilst we witness Laila working in a hairdressers for money while Aaron stays at the caravan, dossing all day until Laila comes home with drugs and junk food so they can get high to forget their troubles and foolishly dance the night away, throughout the film it goes nothing happens, nothing happens BOOOOM out of nowhere your completely horrified by the scenes of violence that start to unfold.
This debut film from brothers Daniel and Matthew Wolfe was first screened at the BFI Film Festival last year and won major praise throughout the British film Industry. Most surprisingly they cast a complete unknown actress to play the lead in the form Sameena Jabeen Ahmed, casting her basically directly from the street but she proved to excel in the role. What works so well is the fact the most of the cast don’t seem like actors but real people struggling in life, you question whether these are real actors or not.
My only concern is the portrayal of the young Asian boys, yes they have acted there asses off in making their roles believable but could it lead to hatred of this community as they are egotistical, arrogant and have no respect for any race but their own.
Catch Me Daddy is an extremely gripping, disturbing and harrowing film and with an ending so open as to what happens after the camera’s leave the scene it will certainly cause lots of discussion and stay with you a long while after you’ve left the cinema.
Read our interview with Sameena here: flavourmag.co.uk/catch-me-daddy-interview-with-sameena-jabeen-ahmed/
