Cert - 15, Run-time - 1 hour 41 minutes

Director - Laura Carreira

Portuguese immigrant Aurora (Joana Santos) spends her time working as a fulfilment centre picker, wishing for a better job that will allow more social contact.

On Falling's hook comes with the quiet connection we form with isolated central character Aurora (Joana Santos). With her job as a fulfilment centre picker providing little social contact, outside of being told she isn't hitting targets, or being patronised with a chocolate bar for all her hard work, she wishes for a better one that will also remove her loneliness.

Joana Santos is fantastic in the lead role as she wears the physical and mental weight of her isolation. Writer-director Laura Carreira, in her feature debut, keeps the camera on Aurora's face in key moments such as a tense job interview where she struggles to come up with an answer as to what she likes to do. The scene in question is painful to watch, both as you hope Aurora doesn't get caught taking the day off work and also in wanting to see her succeed to be able to move on to a new, more open, stage in her life.

Brief interactions during breaks with co-workers and flatmates before going off to a nightshift aren't enough, and both director and star acknowledge the anxiety that can come with the weight being carried. On Falling is packed with wonderfully observed subtleties, quiet details that we don't often notice in ourselves in regards to isolation and loneliness. It forms a greater connection with the film and the journey taken by the central figure in the 'slice-of-life' vein of events.

Through this we also see a story of the immigrant experience, with Aurora being from Portugal, now living in Scotland. She tries to connect with fellow immigrants, but gets little opportunity to, or other situations and opportunities arise for those she's getting to know which leads them to move elsewhere. The empathetic nature of the film understands that often these situations are difficult to control, they can be as much of a struggle to get out of when they aren't down to us as they are just to go through.

Yet, hope is key to the film. As we sit and wish for Santos' character to succeed and feel the fear and anxiety during what feel like crucial moments for her there's still an air of hope that she will succeed in getting the job which will open the world and her life back up instead of being dominated by work and endless, cramped shelves.

Multiple scenes, such as Aurora's day in the build-up to the interview, could so easily feel out of place or tacked on to build up the run-time, but instead have just as much power as the upfront worry, and at times warmth, we feel. The push of On Falling is a fantastically empathetic one which all adds detail to the central character and her experiences, and the directions she wishes to take her life in as her current circumstances feel almost, painfully, endless.

Four stars