16 Years of Alcohol

Jobson's debut feature, adapted from his own novel, singed with personal experience, is an impressively ambitious and assured affair, benefiting from a riveting performance from McKidd as the Edinburgh hard nut so haunted by his father's actions when he was a boy that his adulthood becomes a confusion of contradictory needs, fears and desires. Lynch and Fraser provide predictably excellent support, and Jobson's bold direction balances poignant lyricism, emotional punch and incisive insight to engrossing and illuminating effect.