robinakaaly or, a funny (peculiar) thing happened in Fleetwood. A woman's sister disappeared several years ago. The police have given up searching for her, but the woman, who works as a fish gutter, feels there must be an answer somewhere. She acquires CCTV footage of her sister's last moments which appear to support her hunch. Meanwhile, her obsession has taken her to a local vicar-cum-psychotherapist who improperly gets the hots for her. Having successfully fought off a drunken friend, and seen her sister being paddled across the Styx by Chaeron, actually a hallucination on the Wyre, she realises that CCTV operator at the docks what dunnit. Sadly she too ends up in the bottom of the dock. Weird but passably done.

sarastro7 I am a huge fan of Shirley Henderson. And this is a great movie to watch her in. She seems so fragile, so pitiable, so perpetually in need of a hug. Although her counselor cares for her, Kath still becomes more and more distraught, and the viewer does begin to fear for her sanity and her life. Rightly, as it turns out.I have to discuss the ending (hence the spoiler warning). At first I was annoyed; we don't seem to get an explanation. After she breaks into the CCTV place, the guy there seems to think that she has discovered some secret of his. So he goes to her house and tries to make her open the door. But what is it he thinks she's discovered? She then calls up her sister's boyfriend and tells him that she's found out something new about Annie's murder. When they meet in the morning, he apparently thinks that Kath knows that HE is the murderer (which she doesn't, or she certainly wouldn't have been there to meet him), and he kills her. In the same way Annie was killed.And then there's the thing with the roller-coaster picture appearing on the CCTV footage. Very weird.I haven't figured out the truth yet, but there is clearly some kind of reversal going on. When Kath finally confronts Annie, it turns out that it isn't Annie, but Kath herself. This has to mean that Kath (being "frozen") is dead, and has probably been so throughout the movie. She is somehow a ghost investigating her own death. We never see Annie's face; maybe Annie doesn't exist, she's just an invention of the ghost, to trick herself into not confronting the fact that it is she - Kath - who is dead. I don't know, but it's something like that.I like the movie a lot. It makes you think, and it has a wonderful performance by Henderson, who keeps it interesting throughout. I had no problem with the slow pace; as long as Henderson is in view, there's always something to enthuse about.This is a good DVD to own.8 out of 10.

boab I looked forward to seeing this film as it features the Scottish actress, Shirley Henderson, who I have really admired for years and who finally gets a starring role here. This story of a woman's search for her missing sister feels quite relevant to today's newspaper stories of disappearing women. As the grieving Kath (Henderson) begins her search, the film takes on the form of a thriller and this story unfolds in a measured way that becomes totally mesmerising. The escalating tension is well judged, never letting the audience get ahead of the plot. What is pleasantly surprising are the strong performances that director Juliet McKoen gets from all her actors in her debut film. As expected, Henderson is superb, but I would also single out Richard Armitage as the Port Authority boss who helps Kath with her investigations into CCTV footage of her sister and who gives a performance of some subtlety. The treatment of Kath's encounters with the counsellor, movingly played by Roshan Seth, also treads a fine line emotionally.The sense of place in this film is palpable and is one of director McKoen's real achievements. You feel she knows the territory. The film is set in the port of Fleetwood which makes the film visually very distinctive. There are also strong scenes on Morecambe Bay producing some beautiful images of desolation that are quite haunting. The scenes of Kath and her fellow workers at the fish factory are well handled, though I would have liked to see some of these actors given more to do. It is a tribute to McKoen's casting efforts that many of these smaller parts are played by actors who have a track record in British TV drama. But it is Henderson, with an impeccable Lancashire accent, who carries the full weight of this film as she appears in virtually every scene. With some powerful close-ups of her expressive face, we really get inside this character's mind. There is a seriousness about this film which is to be applauded in an era when I, for one, find many filmgoing experiences instantly forgettable. There is plenty to think about here and this is one that stays with you

Tim (R-T-C) I just returned from seeing this film in Lancaster. Hearing about a locally shot film, I expected not much more than a mini-DV cheapie. However this film is far removed from that.Kath is a young woman (33) whose sister Annie disappeared two years ago without a trance. Kath rather obsessively hunts around for information to try and work out what happened. The centre of her focus is CCTV footage of her sister, that seems to suggest that something odd happened.Shot entirely in the Lancaster/Morecambe/Fleetwood region, in the North West of the UK, the film has very powerful visuals, the scenes shot on the bay itself have an amazing dream-like quality almost Herzog-like. The direction is never pedestrian, always adding to scenes.Shirley Henderson is superb as Kath, who is just by rights, a typical northern girl and comes across very well as such. The supporting cast is all solid.The script is simply superb, with an ever changing story line, and some very interesting sub-plots, that add a lot of detail to the characters and remind you that nothing ever happens in isolation, there are always other things going on in their lives. Fortunately these do not pose any real pacing issues. The ending is solid.A unique film, it is hard to determine who it would really be aimed at, certainly fans of Don't Look Now, and similar, would really enjoy this - on a larger scale, any fans of small scale, artistic cinema should get their money's worth.In all, a very good film and certainly worth seeing if you get the chance. I am looking forward to a DVD release so I can watch it again.