Blue Car

SYNOPSIS

Familiar themes such as adolescent angst, domestic dysfunction and betrayed trust are given a new lease in Karen Moncrieff's affecting debut. Desperate to find a father figure to compensate for the neglect of her overworked mother and the stress of coping with a disturbed sister, teenager Agnes Bruckner's growing dependence on teacher David Strathairn reaches a predictable climax when he persuades her to enter a poetry contest in faraway Florida. But such is the fragility of Bruckner's performance and the tact with which Moncrieff approaches her problems and aspirations that it's impossible not to become involved in her rites of passage.