Summer

The roll-call of homegrown successes stretches from Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky to Hunger, The Duchess and James Bond's action-packed return in Quantum Of Solace.

Summer is a modest production by the standards of some of those titles but it is a heartfelt, expertly made tale of damaged lives and vital friendships that features one of Robert Carlyle's best performances in a long while.

Carlyle stars as Shaun, a loyal carer for his terminally ill best friend Daz (Steve Evets). The prospect of Daz's death fills Shaun with a longing for the past and memories of a golden, carefree summer in the Eighties when they were both 16, Shaun was in love with Katy (Joanna Tulej) and the world seemed full of possibilities.

Summer explores the long and winding road that links the present with the past, layering the flashbacks to tell a story in three different time periods of childhood, carefree adolescence and careworn middle age. It may have a modest running time but it manages to pack in a great deal of plot and lets events unfold with a light, dry humour.

Along the way we do discover the answers to some of the more obvious questions of why Daz wound up in a wheelchair, how Shaun crippled his hand and the depths of the bond between them that has endured undiminished for 20 years.

It is a bittersweet tale of guilt and regret that explains how those endless possibilities became a succession of lost opportunities.

Director Kenny Glenaan makes no secret of his admiration for the work of Ken Loach and Summer shows the same concern for the fabric of everyday lives and the small decisions that can come to define a person.

There is a political undercurrent to the film in the way the education system fails Shaun but the human element always takes precedence over any social agenda.

The teenage Shaun (Sean Kelly) is dyslexic and views the world from a position of anger and shame. He is a time bomb waiting to explode and yet we can also see his better nature in the gentle romancing of Katy.

The typical teenage bad-boy clearly has a soft side that makes him a much more rounded and believable character.

Anyone not won over by the performances and the assured handling of the narrative will suggest that it is too predictable and reminiscent of an old-style television Play For Today.

Even if that were true, it doesn't prevent it from maturing into a moving story that has a real cinematic flair in the photography of Tony Slater-Ling which captures a sense of the English countryside and a warm, sun-kissed summer's day when the world feels like a better place. Glenaan is a former actor and brings out the best in his cast.

Evets conveys a real spirit to the blunt humour and feisty nature of Daz, Kelly shows star potential as the younger Shaun and Kate (Red Road) Dickie contributes another invaluable portrayal as Shaun's mother Janice.

Carlyle is probably slightly too old for the role of Shaun but there is so much vulnerability in his eyes and anguish in his manner that he conveys expertly the lifetime of regrets that has made Shaun the man he is.