With this road movie, the Cornish director Brett Harvey nails a certain type of man: the tastesplainer. A sub-species of the mansplainer, he is that incredibly boring guy with an encyclopaedic knowledge of cool indie bands or some other niche. Here he is David (Tristan Sturrock), a failed middle-aged musician who can (and will) explain in great detail how Yo La Tengo got their name or why Bowie wrote All the Young Dudes for Mott the Hoople. David can’t hold down a day job and drinks too much. “A sad old man” is how his daughter describes him. Though you suspect that when he looks in the mirror, he still sees a 24-year-old indie rocker staring back.
David is driving his daughter, photography student Lea (Chloe Endean), from halls in Manchester down to her mum’s in Cornwall. The mood is gloomy. Something has happened, though we don’t find out what until late in the film. The script can be frustrating like this, with empty echoing scenes in which characters barely talk because that would mean giving away details that are revealed in later scenes.
Lea gets the best lines, with some withering putdowns directed at her dad. When he plays some bippy experimental electronic music in the car she rolls her eyes. “Is this another important band I need to know?” she says, her words dripping with sarcasm. Later she says, “Your life is so romantic to you” – painfully poking at his vanity. Sturrock’s performance gives us some insights into David: the sinking realisation that he hasn’t spent enough time with Lea, years he can’t get back. Still, for stretches at a time, Long Way Back drags sluggishly, stuck in second gear. A little more humour might have helped.
• Long Way Back is released on 2 September in cinemas.
