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At the funeral of his estranged father, teenaged John (Patrick McNamee) finds out his old man has been a big name in the mod scene back in the 1980s, what with many former mods showing up on their scooters and in full regalia. This inspires John to take his ashes to mod mecca Brighton and scatter them on the beach, taking his dad's Lambretta for the ride and wearing his parka. He's soon joined by Nicki (Sacha Parkinson), a girl roughly his age and daughter of one of dad's mod friends who's mostly along for the adventure - and for the Paul Weller concert, tickets for which dad has also left John. However, as enthusiastic John had been at the beginning of the trip, his resolve soon wanes, also because he feels unable to identify with mod culture, and he needs more and more pushing from Nicki. And it's not long before their money runs out as well, so they stop at Nicki's uncle (Ricci Harnett) and aunt (Patsy Kensit), who's happy to help them out with more than enough cash - but forces them to take his son Logan (Max Boast) along for the ride. And Logan is quite a bit obnoxious, so much so that John eventually splits up with the others - forgetting that they have the others, and once in Brighton he's forced to sleep in a boat. What's worse though is that in Brighton he feels less in touch with his father than ever, as the city's attraction is as lost on him as mod culture as such, but Nicki pretty much forces him to try and find out more about his dad - which at first works wonders, as it turns out dad was quite a celebrity around these parts. But then John learns that his old man has also got into a fight with a rocker and crippled him in the process, which is all that he needs to be thrown completely off course ...

Now granted, it helps to be at least a little into mod culture to enjoy the film, as much that is shown here harks back to the second mod era of the late 1970s/early 80s, including of course many of the tunes played in the film. But the mod-background is really only secondary to the story about (self-)discovery and finding one's identity - which sounds contradictory as the film's protagonist tries to track down the truth about his dad, but really isn't. And the film's subtly enough directed to give its fine ensemble the required air to breathe, but manages to avoid the cheesy aspects of the story thanks to a certain light-footedness and just the right dose of humour, to make this one pretty cool watch.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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