Adult Life Skills

Elaborating on the Bafta-nominated short Emotional Fusebox, acclaimed editor Rachel Tunnard's feature debut employs an engaging, if sometimes strained blend of quirky comedy and mawkish melodrama to explore the emotional state of a 29-year-old striving to reconcile the loss of a beloved twin brother with the need to get on with her own life. When not working at a Peak District activity centre, Anna (Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker) holes up in the garden shed she has turned into a shrine to her brother (Edward Hogg), who recently perished in an accident. She updates his website and makes little films featuring characters drawn on to her thumbs. However, as Anna is coaxed out of her shell by a combination of her mother's eviction threat, a school pal's return from a foreign adventure and the domestic crisis of an eight-year-old neighbour, Tunnard struggles to knit the alternately amusing and moving episodes into a cogent whole. Beck Rainford's production design is outstanding and offers more insights into Anna's psyche than the irksome indie soundtrack, while Bet Rourich's camerawork deftly delineates her expanding horizons. But the willing cast can't quite overcome the cloying sense of contrivance.