Chris Bussey

It's no accident that the characters in this sad, quiet, oddly moving film are both preoccupied with and dismissive of the events of the Irish civil war. The heart of the story is the sudden end of a friendship, really a brotherhood, for reasons which at first seem petty and inexplicable, though subsequent events - as the tale, and the people who populate it unravel - reveal that it has all been a long time coming. Small acts of incivility escalate into naked emotional cruelty and then curdle into open hostility and vengeance, though the characters are often too blind to the truth that they are only harming themselves by participating in all of it. The exploration of the basic human desire for friendship, recognition and dignity in the eyes of others, and the consequences of that desire being scorned, is what makes this story so dreadfully heartbreaking. This is a film that works on you without you quite realizing it; the petty bickering between neighbors and family members in an isolated rural setting ends up leading you to examine, if you dare, the ways in which you yourself may be harming the very people you should hold dear, and for what? The dialogue at times wants you to laugh, and there are some chuckles. But you soon realize that there is an immense sadness beneath everything that you cannot laugh off. It's a mature, thoughtful, affecting film that's not trying to excite or shock you.