Prisoner’s Daughter: Film Review
After working together on 1994’s Prince of Jutland, Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox have reunited for Catherine Hardwicke‘s drama Prisoner’s Daughter.
Beckinsale plays Maxine, a single mother who is struggling to make ends meet and afford epilepsy medication for her son Ezra (Christopher Convery). Ezra’s father Tyler (Tyson Ritter) is a useless drug addict and she is constantly exhausted from working two minimum-wage jobs. So when her terminally ill estranged father Max (Cox) reaches out for the first time in 12 years and asks to live out the remainder of his prison sentence on house arrest at her place, she reluctantly accepts, on the condition he pays rent.
The father-daughter relationship is a fraught one at first. They haven’t spoken for years and Max was a bad father even before he went to prison. Maxine doesn’t want anything to do with him and insists on pretending he is her uncle in front of Ezra. Despite her initially resisting any “father-daughter bulls**t” and his attempts to help her too much, the ice between them thaws over time and it was lovely to see this bond develop.
While the main focus is on that central relationship, the film also spends a good amount of time watching Ezra grow to love his granddad. It’s an unconventional bond but it’s useful – Max helps Ezra gain confidence. In fact, all three of them become better people as a result of the situation.
I liked the way the script didn’t reveal everything all at once. We don’t learn what Max did to be in prison or why Maxine resents him so much for a while and that kept me interested in their story. However, Tyler isn’t written as well as the central trio and is very much a two-dimensional troublemaker and waste of space. I also wasn’t totally convinced by the ending, which felt at odds with the rest of the movie’s tone.
The performances are the highlight. It felt strange to see Cox playing a career criminal after last seeing him as Succession’s Logan Roy but he is thoroughly convincing. Convery is excellent as the smart teen who knows too much and Ernie Hudson adds warmth as Max’s friend Hank. But Beckinsale is the star of the show as Maxine, who is exhausted, emotional and resentful.
Prisoner’s Daughter is rather formulaic and the script is hit and miss but overall, it’s a compelling character study of a dysfunctional family.
On Prime Video from Tuesday 4th July