The Runaways review – confused family tragicomedy

Alcoholism, bereavement, child neglect, mental illness and homelessness are just some of the plot devices employed in this tonally jarring drama about three siblings forced to go on the run when their father dies. Mark Addy, voice moist with beer, is the well-meaning but useless dad; Molly Windsor is Angie, the 16-year-old who has been the family’s carer since her mother left eight years before. Together with two of the family’s seaside donkeys, Angie and her brother and sister set off across the North Yorkshire moors, hoping to evade the grasping uncle who, recently released from prison, has decided that the family’s meagre resources are his by rights.

There’s a passing similarity to Andrew Haigh’s superior Lean on Pete, but the odd clash of physical comedy (fare-dodging donkeys hiding in train lavatories) and Huckleberry Finn romanticism with the bleak reality of three vulnerable children targeted by cynical adults makes for a disorienting viewing experience.