The Winter Guest

REVIEW
Actor Rickman gets behind the lense to direct this tightly knit little adaptation of Sharman Macdonald's play. Set in a Scottish seaside hamlet where the winter’s cold has frozen the sea solid, the action revolves around four separate tête-à-têtes: A couple of elderly women waiting for a bus and obsessing on death; a teenaged boy and girl who nervously flirt around the edges of their attraction; two young boys who skip school to spend time at the beach and muse about their impending adolescence; and a bereaved widow (Thompson) whose mother (real-life ma Law), is waging a campaign of relentless acerbity and tough love in a attempt to dislodge her from her icy grieving. Though claustrophobic and stagey, the film’s cast never miss a beat, and Rickman keeps the flow of deep introspection moving steadily along.