In Fading Light

The admirable Amber Films collective comes up trumps again, after Seacoal, with another Loach-ian account of the disillusioned and dispossessed up North. A teenage girl (Ripley) visits her estranged father (Hill) in North Shields, and in joining him aboard his fishing boat, comes up against male chauvinism, female jealousy, and the despair of running a traditional small business in the face of Thatcherite corporate investment. If it's sometimes hard to follow the authentic dialect, there is no denying the conviction of the naturalistic performances or the intelligence of the script, while a suspenseful gale sequence effortlessly belies the lowly budget.