This is what [ABERDEEN] reminds us of – that it can take almost a lifetime to undo all the grief and destruction from this [intergenerational] trauma. Nonetheless, change is possible and families can reunite and start anew.

Aberdeen is a frustrating film with a frustrating lead.

Perhaps it’s still an important film, but it’s not particularly good.

It is almost relentlessly bleak, its characters engaging in a series of shouting matches and little else. When comic relief arrives, usually in the form of Bill Merasty’s witty but one-note Alfred, the tonal clash jars.