Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Paul Duane
Starring: Simone Collins, Charlie Maher, Catherine Siggins, Nigel O’Neill, Olwen Fouere
From: XYZ Films
… death is all you need
I don’t plan on viewing too many modern films for Spooky Season this year. Given my general opinion of modern movies, I am OK w/ this scenario. The reasons why I chose this Irish film: the plot description was different/intrigued me, and the film has had some rather nice art attached to it. Thus, among the vast selection on Shudder, this was what was selected. What I got was… unexpected.
The first half was strong. You have to accept the idea that the world of collecting old obscure folk songs is a business in Ireland that pays in cash but it’s done in clandestine fashion… no, really. Otherwise, I rolled with the young couple who did just this; they make recordings surreptitiously, which did make me laugh. When an old ancient song is recorded despite being forbidden to do so—of course, big mistake. It can be seen as a message to not bootleg live singing.
The first half of the movie was preferable to the second half; the latter portion not only has the languid pacing slow down even more-it never became dull to me but it may to many others-it just became weird. The turn the story takes was rather unexpected although it did fit into the movie’s lore. The conclusion… it was wild, for certain—it also made the journey feel worthwhile.
My misgivings aside, the film can still be deemed “good” by myself. I understand the budget was quite low; this doesn’t always impact my rating but I’ll note the movie didn’t suffer due to a lack of funds. The cast full of mostly unknowns to me were all satisfactory; the one name I knew was Olwen Fouere in a supporting role. The singer brother of Brendan Gleeson appears in a scene to belt out a lovely folk song; it’s the first I knew of Barry Gleeson. Thankfully in a film such as this, the songs, score and sound design were all quality. Note that this does NOT apply to the scream-o rock song during the end credits…
Plenty will be more ambivalent about the film but the premise and execution was enough to win me over.
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