Rachel Tunnard directed and wrote Adult Life Skills originally as a short but eventually with the help of friends or family, some appear in the film, the short grew into the film.

Oddball and eccentric are two adjectives that I personally like when applied to a film. Certain US filmmakers are good at it but if you want really underplayed, realistic [to a certain point], oddball and eccentric you must come to the UK. Tunnard turns the quirkmeter all the way up to eleven but throughout the film there was always the feeling of homegrown realism underpinning everything.

Understated realistic acting is needed if you are going for a ‘strange’ story and with Adult Life Skills you have it. All the main actors are familiar to British viewers and with no disrespect meant to them they are in general the ‘oh that’s wasisname who was in that thing we saw last month’ rather than that’s – insert name here. This is the films great strength. Everyone who acted in the film take a bow.

For instance, well known comedy face Brett Goldstein plays Brendan to a perfection, in all honesty you probably know someone like that but maybe not in such broad strokes yet the skill is he does not seem to be on the screen in broad strokes. It is hard to describe but it is a skill that if not honed correctly takes you out of a story immediately. I sure we can all think of a film where the ‘strange quirky’ character is trying too hard to be just that. In particular the moped scene struck a note of realism with me that had me chuckling for some time after it the film had moved on.

Lorraine Ashbourne is just a mum – that is the best praise I can give.

There is no doubt Adult Life Skills will leave many people scratching their heads and puzzled and probably disliking it but it’s charm and overall eccentricity is never grating and the film does tell and difficult and heartful story of coping with the huge roadblocks that life can put in your way and certainly the main theme is not a light frothy topic and it is one that has been mishandled and misrepresented many times in past films and stories. It’s messy, angry, strange and hard to understand.

If Rachel Tunnard keeps on in this vein and tackles other topics in her own style I for one will seek out her work. I recommend you do to.