Days of the Bagnold Summer

Monica Dolan and Earl Cave in Days of the Bagnold Summer

I avoided Simon Bird's Days of the Bagnold Summer out of pig-headedness. I first heard of the film by listening to Belle and Sebastian's nice soundtrack, but thought it had something to do with Enid Bagnold, so I avoided it because I thought it was going to be too twee and British. It is certainly British and has the bed-sit suburban anomie of Glasgow's finest, but after stumbling over it on TUBI, I was charmed. Hardly a cinematic landmark, the flick is a well paced and sturdily constructed character study.

Lisa Owens' screenplay, adapted from the graphic novel by Joff Winterhart, is a marvel of economic expression. The film is, primarily, a two hander concerning a middle aged librarian and her fifteen year old son. The mom, Sue Bagnold, has raised her son on her own after the father has deserted them some seven years before. Sue is dowdy, stuck in a rut with little comfort and joy in her life. Monica Dolan. a mainstay of British television, portrays the bespectacled and stifled librarian cunningly. Dolan taps into her character's vulnerability and pain, but also conveys Sue's quiet indomitability. 

Daniel Bagnold is a different kettle of fish. A sullen metalhead caught in the awkward cusp of teenhood, Daniel is directionless, seemingly content to brood, sulk, and play video games all day. The absence of a father has clearly stunted his development. Earl Cave effortlessly embodies this rebel without a clue with a soupcon of father Nick's charisma. 

Predictably, Sue and Daniel butt heads through the course of the film and, just as predictably, find common ground before the conclusion. Director Bird, who started as a juvenile comic actor, frames his players expertly and excels at keeping sequences compact and tidy. Their are no extraneous or dead scenes in the film and no bad performances. Rob Brydon as a narcissistic suitor and Tasmin Greigas as a New Age type chum of Sue's are particularly memorable. Best of all is Elliott Speller-Gillott as Daniel's best bud, Ky, who gives his metalhead a touch of Restoration comedy foppishness which gives the picture some needed fizz. Days of the Bagnold Summer is nothing earth shaking, but it is pleasant and well made fare.