Blood Cells

This low-key, moody British indie follows a drifter, Adam (played by Barry Ward, the charismatic lead in Ken Loach’s ‘Jimmy’s Hall’), as he moves around the country trying to make peace with a troubled past rooted in the destruction of his family’s farm during the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis.

It’s shot in an alluring, intimate, immediate style and the sensitive, inquiring photography is by far the film’s strongest selling point. But Adam’s series of brief encounters, as he reconnects with old friends and family, can feel shallow and underexplored, despite a strong performance from Ward.

There’s also a niggling sense that Adam is more a catalyst for some well-styled movie atmospherics than any serious examination of his character’s troubles.