Dublin-based fortysomething Colm (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, superb) is married with two older children and a long-term job at the docks. But his placid facade masks a psyche that’s rapidly disintegrating. A recent takeover threatens his future employment, his teenage son treats him with disdain and he’s grieving the death of his own, emotionally destructive father. Colm has also become infatuated with sex worker Jay (Tom Glynn-Carney), while avoiding contact with his wife Claire (Monica Dolan, as brilliant here as she is in
Days of the Bagnold Summer).
Review:
Working from Mark O’Halloran’s nuanced screenplay, Peter Mackie Burns has crafted a rich, cinematic and multi-layered portrait of a mid-life crisis, with
Rialto’s visual incisiveness accentuated by its tense, enveloping sound design.