TIFF 2025: Glenrothan Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Brian Cox’s immense body of work, including a critically acclaimed stage career, countless films as a character actor, and most recently a run as Logan Roy in HBO’s award-winning drama Succession, culminates in a long overdue directorial debut in Glenrothan. Co-written by one of his dearest friends, David Ashton, as a self-proclaimed love letter to Scotland, it seemed like a natural inkling for Cox to finally tackle the director’s chair. The film follows Donal (Cumming), who returns to his family home in Scotland in order to make amends with his brother Sandy (Cox) after being away for 35 years. Coming back home with his daughter Amy (Alexandra Shipp) and granddaughter Sasha (Alexandra Wilkie), he must dive back into his family trauma he hoped to have left behind long ago.

Cox’s decision to tackle this story is undoubtedly justified in his earnestness to showcase his homeland, further strengthened by the casting of Cumming, who is given the chance to shine as the lead. Rarely given the opportunity to portray these layered characters, he suitably provides the emotional complexity of a man torn between his past and his present. The film glows brightly in the sparse scenes where he starts singing, letting his eccentric personality roam free from the difficulties that Donal faces. Meanwhile, Cox, choosing to divert himself into the supporting role, is not necessarily a puzzling decision, letting his fellow Scottish colleague take the reins of this complicated dynamic. Audiences will be more surprised at Cox’s restraint in a subdued role, compared to his frequently intimidating presence. Sandy has long been a caring uncle to Amy and her daughter Sasha, whom Cox portrays with incredible grace. He instills Sandy with immense patience and attentiveness, despite someone who lost all his family with his own eyes.

Through Amy (Shipp) and Jess (Henderson), Sandy’s right hand, is where the film’s script becomes much more sharp in its characterization. Despite the unconditional love that Amy has for her father, she persistently mediates the brothers’ arguments which Shipp portrays without hesitation, filling this mother role that these brothers never got to fully appreciate. Henderson’s justifiable frustration in her role as Jess cuts the deepest as she becomes the biggest collateral damage for the brothers’ quarrel, putting her job and the town’s livelihood on the line when their handling of the family distillery, Glen Nairn Whiskey, is in jeopardy. Outside honest performances and emotionally complex characters is where Glenrothan begins to show its flaws, as Cox’s venture into a deeply personal family drama borders on Hallmark levels of melodrama. Jarring cinematography with unwieldy establishing shots with a blending of somber and upbeat musical tones are some of the customary clichés that Cox implements from such made-for-TV films. 

Often bordering on the melodrama of made-for-TV films, Glenrothan is a major departure from Brian Cox’s celebrated career. However, Cox’s passion for his Scottish homeland seeps through the screen in his camaraderie with co-star Alan Cumming, along with the entire cast, who deliver exceptionally layered performances beyond this simplistic family drama.

still courtesy of TIFF

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Costa Christoulas

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