Frozen

Director: Juliet McKoen, UK, 15, 90min

Stars: Shirley Henderson, Roshan Seth

On selected release

This slight film is aptly titled, for there is precious little warmth in the life of its central character, Kath (Henderson). Two years on from the disappearance of her sister Annie, Kath is frozen emotionally by her loss and an obsession with finding out what happened. When not working in a fish-processing factory, she spends her time poring over CCTV footage of Annie, convinced that she sees clues, and wandering the bleak sands of Morecambe Bay, convinced that she sees Annie herself. But as she struggles to find solace with conselling from her local vicar (Seth), you see only sadness.

Henderson’s squeaky tones sometimes give Kath a petulant quality, but her diminutive stature and frank, open gaze so perfectly evoke a young woman dwarfed by grief, you can almost taste it.