What Richard Did – review

Lenny Abrahamson, the Irish director of Adam & Paul and Garage, both accomplished studies of marginalised lower-class figures, shifts territory to the world of wealthy Dubliners, beneficiaries of Ireland's tiger economy, and their arrogant, spoilt kids. In particular it focuses on Richard Karlsen (the first-rate Jack Reynor), a handsome rugby star and gifted student, less confident than he appears to be, spending the summer between sixth form and university with his mates and a new girlfriend. Then, suddenly, disaster overtakes him when he and some chums get involved in an accidental killing. Will they confess and face the consequences? The film is a striking portrait of a social class and a low-key allegory about a country in moral crisis.