Hyde Park Pick: Dragonfly

In Dragonfly, neglected pensioner Elsie (the brilliant Brenda Blethyn) finds an unexpected ally in her younger neighbour Colleen (again, brilliant Andrea Riseborough). Over time, Elsie gains a friend, and the troubled Colleen finds a fresh purpose in life as she shops, cleans and cares for her.

It was back in 2006 that we first played Williams’ striking feature debut, London to Brighton, and he’s been a favourite of ours ever since. Drifting carefully between film and TV work, with TV credits including The Walk-In, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Broadchurch) - Williams has an incredible skill for exploring complex social issues whilst also crafting exceptionally effective genre pieces. Dipping between crime, thriller, social realism – or sometimes a fusion of all these types of storytelling. Williams has a point to make, and in Dragonfly that feels at its most acute. However, he also wants to hold an audience and revel in the visceral and gripping type of storytelling that can thrive in the cinema.

I think Dragonfly is a good film to go into without too many firm ideas about what it is, it’s best to just lean into the story as it plays out. Part of that is about enjoying the performances which are stunning from start to end. There’s a real sincerity that both Brenda Blethyn and Andrea Riseborough bring to their characters, which is hard as there’s so much vulnerability and precarity in those characters, but at the same time, it’s amazing to see.

We also have to give a shout-out to the locality. Dragonfly is Screen Yorkshire-supported, filmed in Wakefield. We don’t need all our films to be made locally, but it’s such a pleasure when they are.

Dragonfly is showing at HPPH from Fri 07 Nov. You can book tickets here.