CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY (Cert 12, 108 mins, streaming from October 7 exclusively on Prime Video, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
Starring: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Billie Piper, Joe Alwyn, Dean-Charles Chapman, Isis Hainsworth, Paul Kaye, Michael Woolfitt.
IN THE late 13th-century English village of Stonebridge, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott) and wife Lady Aislinn (Billie Piper) preside over a crumbling manor.
The money-minded master believes his only route out of destitution is to marry off his teenage daughter Lady Catherine (Bella Ramsey) – known as Birdy – to a wealthy suitor.
The 14-year-old professes all men are "horribly duplicitous creatures" and if she marries, it should be for love to someone as dreamy and dashing as her uncle George (Joe Alwyn).
Unfortunately, such privileges are denied her sex and Birdy rages against the patriarchy and older brother Robert (Dean-Charles Chapman), who is hopelessly smitten with her best friend Aelis (Isis Hainsworth).
Despite her best efforts to dissuade eligible bachelors from seeking her hand, repulsive nobleman Shaggy Beard (Paul Kaye) intends to take Birdy as his bride and her grim fate is sealed.
Based on Karen Cushman's children's book, Catherine Called Birdy is a likable period romp written and directed by Lena Dunham, which riffs amusingly on a fractious father-daughter dynamic.
Dunham's script replays feminist melodies from her award-winning TV series Girls but her touch is light and the comedy broad to spotlight the injustices and gender inequalities of the era.
Ramsey plays her eponymous heroine with an appealing mix of pluck and naivete, hastily learning about menstruation and conception when she'd rather be rolling around in the mud with the local goat boy (Michael Woolfitt).
The film's crowd-pleasing resolve overcomes predictable, linear storytelling and disappointingly thin characterisation of older females, who tenderly shepherd Birdy towards womanhood.
Rating: 3/5
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (10 episodes, starts streaming from October 8 exclusively on Paramount+, Horror/Thriller)
IN 2008, Swedish director Tomas Alfredson unveiled his breathtaking coming-of-age story Let The Right One In (Lat Den Ratte Komma In), adapted for the screen by John Ajvide Linqvist from his own novel.
Set predominantly in and around a snow-laden housing estate in 1980s Stockholm, the story involved a bullied 12-year-old boy who befriends a vampire child with an insatiable thirst for human blood.
A lacklustre 2010 English language re-make transplanted the angst to New Mexico and now a 10-part TV series developed by Andrew Hinderaker uses New York City as a vibrant backdrop, distilling terror in weekly instalments.
Ten years ago, Mark (Demian Bichir) was powerless to prevent his 12-year-old daughter Eleanor (Madison Taylor Baez) from being turned into a vampire.
Since her metamorphosis, Eleanor has not aged a day and she remains in the family apartment until night falls, relying on her father to procure the human blood she needs to stay alive.
However, Eleanor cannot remain a prisoner forever.
