Glenrothan review – Alan Cumming heads home in Brian Cox’s big-hearted brotherly drama
Succession is the question as Cox directs and stars as a distillery boss tempting estranged brother Cumming back into the Highland foldFor his directorial debut, Brian Cox is painting in...
By Peter Bradshaw · The Guardian Culture
Succession is the question as Cox directs and stars as a distillery boss tempting estranged brother Cumming back into the Highland fold For his directorial debut, Brian Cox is painting in pretty broad strokes and primary colours; Glenrothan is a sentimental comedy-drama from screenwriter David Ashton about the troubled reunion of two brothers in Scotland. It can be a bit soppy, sometimes resembling Sunday-night TV comfort food, but this big-hearted picture wins you over, and there are certainly some marvellous panoramic shots of the Highlands. Cox himself plays Sandy, the glowering chief of a hugely profitable family-owned distillery which provides employment for the entire locality, and run by the fiercely competent Jess (Shirley Henderson). Sandy effectively inherited the job from his late father, a stern disciplinarian remembered in traumatised flashback scenes – for this role, Brian Cox has drolly cast his son Alan Cox. Continue reading...