Film Review – Prisoner’s Daughter

Director Catherine Hardwicke fumbled funny business with April’s “Mafia Mamma,” and she immediately returns to screens with “Prisoner’s Daughter,” which asks the underwhelming filmmaker to take on the severity of death and family ties. Screenwriter Mark Bacci aims for the heart with his study of an aging ex-con looking to make things right with his estranged daughter, but he mostly offers the stuff of a television movie, leaving it up to Hardwicke to inject some emotional authenticity into an otherwise routine study of heartbreak and dysfunction. The helmer is not the right fit for the job, finding her blunt ways with performance and tone at odds with the seemingly delicate nature of the story and its concept of rehabilitation. “Prisoner’s Daughter” is boosted by leading work from actor Brian Cox, but the rest remains awkward in execution and limited in dramatic reach. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com