Brian Cox plays a terminally ill inmate who is allowed to live out the rest of his days under house arrest at his daughter’s home.
After appearing alongside each other almost 30 years ago in 1994’s Prince of Jutland, Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox have reunited for Catherine Hardwicke’s latest feature, Prisoner’s Daughter.
In the domestic drama, Cox plays terminally ill inmate Max, who is granted compassionate leave and allowed to live out the rest of his days under house arrest at his daughter Maxine (Beckinsale)’s home.
But it’s not quite so simple – they haven’t spoken for 12 years and Maxine has no interest in having her father back in her life.
However, she is a single mother struggling to make ends meet and look after her epileptic son Ezra (Christopher Convery) so she accepts his request on the condition he supports them financially.
As you might expect, the father-daughter relationship is frosty at first – Max was an absent dad who was often in and out of prison and Maxine cannot stand him after what he put her through.
However, as these stories usually go, the ice between them thaws over time and they develop a renewed bond.
That is the central focus, but the film also spends a lot of time on Max getting to know his grandson Ezra and help him come out of his shell and find his confidence despite being bullied at school.
The script cleverly avoids telling us everything right away. We have to be patient to find out what Max did to be locked up and why Maxine resents him so much and this mystery made the characters and their story very intriguing.
It isn’t perfect though – Maxine’s ex-husband Tyler (Tyson Ritter) is a drug addict who got kicked out of the house long ago and is determined to see his son.
He is a troublemaker and a waste of space but he doesn’t get treated with the same grace and nuance as Max. He is written in a very two-dimensional manner and subsequently not portrayed particularly well.
The ending is also rather peculiar. Without delving into spoilers, it takes an unexpected big swing that felt at odds with the tone of the movie.
The rest of the performances are the highlight though – Beckinsale is terrific as the exhausted, emotional and stressed mother who refuses to accept help from her dad even when she needs it.
Cox is thoroughly convincing as the hardened career criminal and Convery is very good as the know-it-all teenager.
Prisoner’s Daughter is rather formulaic but it was lovely to see these estranged characters form a bond and learn to trust one another again.
On Prime Video from Tuesday 4th July.
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