Wildfire

Directed by Cathy Brady, Wildfire details the turmoil that ensues after Nika McGuigan’s emotionally-disturbed Kelly returns home after a year away – with the movie subsequently exploring the impact Kelly’s return has on her increasingly volatile sister (Nora-Jane Noone’s Lauren). It’s a thoroughly slight premise that’s employed to periodically watchable yet mostly underwhelming effect by Brady, as the filmmaker, working from her own screenplay, delivers a meandering, exceedingly deliberate drama that ultimately works best as a showcase for a pair of admittedly phenomenal performances – as both McGuigan and Noone deliver searing and engrossing work that is, generally speaking, better than the thin material deserves. The movie’s erratic atmosphere is alleviated by a midsection that does contain a little dramatic heft, admittedly, as Lauren begins to unravel in the wake of her sibling’s progressively unstable behavior (ie memories of a childhood trauma slowly-but-surely bubble their way to the surface). There does reach a point, however, at which the characters’ dangerously codependent relationship becomes too extreme to take entirely seriously, as the picture builds towards a rather ludicrous finale that’s hardly able to pack the cathartic punch that Brady has obviously intended – which confirms Wildfire‘s place as well-intentioned misfire that could (and should) have been better.

** out of ****