Family and friends help a young boy navigate the complexities of growing up after the death of his parents in the heartwarming family film Windcatcher. Ten-year-old Percy ‘Boy’ Collins (played by Bundjalung primary schooler Lennox Monaghan) lives with his aunties and grandfather in the small town of Herbertson. Percy’s latest money-making scheme has brought him and his friends to the police station, but Constable Kennedy (played by Ngali Shaw, of Wiradjuri, Murawari and Kunja descent) is no match for Percy’s formidable aunties (Jessica Mauboy and Lisa Maza).

Making her first feature, Tanith Glynn-Maloney (Finding Jedda) brings deft comic energy to the police station sequence, juggling an array of characters and subverting our expectations by ending with an anti-climax rather than a confrontation. It nicely contrasts with the gravity of the intimate scene that follows, a two-hander between Percy and his grandfather (Ballardong Noongar actor, Kelton Pell). Percy is learning from Pop about his culture and identity, particularly his gift of seeing ghosts (Lost Souls) and his responsibility to help them move on. Windcatcher is packed with incident, but quiet moments like this give the film and its characters some welcome space to breathe.

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