‘Glenrothan’ is a film that, in some ways, goes a little too much through the motions. It marks the directorial debut of Brian Cox, who also stars alongside Alan Cumming as estranged brothers. One of them, Donal (Cumming), left behind the family whisky distillery in Scotland years earlier following a bitter fallout, choosing instead to build a new life in Chicago – opening a jazz club, starting a family, and never looking back. Until now.

Inevitably, Donal’s return home reopens old wounds, not least when he encounters the girlfriend he left behind, played by Shirley Henderson. At its core, the film is about making up for lost time – about the idea that blood is thicker than water, and that reconciliation, however difficult, is preferable to a lifetime of unresolved resentment. The emotional stakes are heightened by the fact that Sandy (Brian Cox) is now facing serious illness, suggesting that time is running out.

There are shades here of ‘Local Hero’, in the sense that the journey from America back to Scotland brings about a kind of emotional awakening. Without giving too much away, there’s also a suggestion that the returning outsider may ultimately find a renewed sense of belonging, perhaps even choosing to stay, the sort of trope we’re familiar with in so many films, including ‘Groundhog Day’, where the outsider becomes sutured into the community he at first despised. One particularly striking moment comes when Donal discovers that his childhood bedroom has been left completely untouched for decades, as though time itself has stood still in his absence.

The Scottish setting is undeniably beautiful, and the film makes good use of its landscapes. Yet for all its sincerity, what we have here is ultimately a fairly conventional redemption narrative. It follows familiar emotional beats, and at times edges into something that feels closer to a Hallmark-style story – a little too neat, a little too sentimental.

There’s charm in that, certainly, but it also gives the film a slightly twee quality – perhaps best described as a kind of tartan fantasy. ‘Glenrothan’ is heartfelt and well-meaning, but rarely surprising.