There’s a lot of energy swirling around this flawed, but punchy and watchable gangland thriller from Irish film-maker Mark O’Connor, who directed the bareknuckle fight drama King of the Travellers in 2012.
This too stars John Connors, who is also co-writer. He plays Jason, a tough guy and occasional DJ in north Dublin. He hangs out with his crew, some of them are rappers, all are on the dole but dreaming of vaguely making it in the music business. In the meantime, the plan is get some startup cash by robbing an off-licence in order to buy some heroin from a local wholesaler, to retail on the streets – to the very considerable displeasure of the area’s chief drug dealer, with whose wife (Kierston Wareing) Jason also happens to be having an affair. What on earth can his life insurance premiums be like?
O’Connor puts the pedal to the metal with this picture and drives it like he stole it, as they say – with some exhilarating results. There is some influence from Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah, and maybe also something from Nick Love. It’s not perfect – the ending starts to lose focus – but it has some style.
