Fresh from a Grand Prix triumph at the Berlinale, Brendan Canty and Alan O’Gorman tell a stirring story of life reawakening for a teenager in working-class Ireland.
On the edges of Cork, 17-year-old Christy has been left damaged by his mother’s death and let down by a broken social care system, and must turn to his estranged half-brother for a place to stay. While there, he begins to find a new family, community, and direction in life – but their violent histories, and the dangerous realities around them, will not make it straightforward. Making their feature debut from a 2019 short film, Canty and O’Gorman balance unsentimental realities with cinematic luminosity and a genuine, mounting sense of hope and connection, making for a new coming-of-age classic. Newcomer Danny Power stands out as the stoic, vulnerable lead.
