This movie is set In Ireland but is not a particularly 'Irish' film - the underlying theme is universal (the eternal triangle) and it could have been set almost anywhere. There is some reasonable acting and occasional sequences of lush camera-work, but the film is let down by a weak plot, dull script and ponderous pace.
Richard is a well-off teenager who swears and drinks a lot. He is popular among his peers for his looks, self-confidence and access to his parents' beach house. He takes up with the girlfriend of one of his pals and they have sex. Later at a party the two lads get into a fight over the girl and a drunken Richard hits him once too often, taking the lad's life. In collusion with his father, he runs away and hides until he realises that his guilt is too much to bear and that he must give himself up to the police. Returning home to hand himself in, he resumes his studies and finds another girl for perfunctory sex. Whereupon he appears to have forgotten about confessing after all . . . and the credits roll.
The movie starts very slowly with lengthy and tedious scenes of Richard and his mates chilling out together, real enough but reality and drama make uneasy bedfellows. Nothing really happens until Richard gets into the fight, but even then there is little to make us like him enough to care what fate befalls him thereafter. He has committed manslaughter and he knows it so his decision to lie and hide just makes him look a coward. So when he 'breaks down' - an embarrassing scene in which he does a lot of screeching and breast-beating - it is hard to have much sympathy. It's not as if he's murdered anyone and faces life imprisonment or worse. A good lawyer would help . . . but these and other practicalities are never considered by him nor his father and (barely seen) mother. Having decided to do 'the right thing', Richard then appears to abandon his intent and return to a life of self-indulgence. Perplexing!
So the story is more about what Richard did not do than what he did. Perhaps his parents should have told him a lot earlier to grow up and get a life!
Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend this movie.
(Viewed at The Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK, 31.01.13)
Richard is a well-off teenager who swears and drinks a lot. He is popular among his peers for his looks, self-confidence and access to his parents' beach house. He takes up with the girlfriend of one of his pals and they have sex. Later at a party the two lads get into a fight over the girl and a drunken Richard hits him once too often, taking the lad's life. In collusion with his father, he runs away and hides until he realises that his guilt is too much to bear and that he must give himself up to the police. Returning home to hand himself in, he resumes his studies and finds another girl for perfunctory sex. Whereupon he appears to have forgotten about confessing after all . . . and the credits roll.
The movie starts very slowly with lengthy and tedious scenes of Richard and his mates chilling out together, real enough but reality and drama make uneasy bedfellows. Nothing really happens until Richard gets into the fight, but even then there is little to make us like him enough to care what fate befalls him thereafter. He has committed manslaughter and he knows it so his decision to lie and hide just makes him look a coward. So when he 'breaks down' - an embarrassing scene in which he does a lot of screeching and breast-beating - it is hard to have much sympathy. It's not as if he's murdered anyone and faces life imprisonment or worse. A good lawyer would help . . . but these and other practicalities are never considered by him nor his father and (barely seen) mother. Having decided to do 'the right thing', Richard then appears to abandon his intent and return to a life of self-indulgence. Perplexing!
So the story is more about what Richard did not do than what he did. Perhaps his parents should have told him a lot earlier to grow up and get a life!
Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend this movie.
(Viewed at The Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK, 31.01.13)