Film review: Calm with Horses – A macho sigh around a torpedo that wants to be free from its devastating life

British hard Basic Realists really love their horses. The tired cliché phrase in which Brunt is allowed to jog as a symbol of freedom appears, even in legit critically acclaimed films like Clio Barnard’s Selfish Giant and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (however, Arnold is quite he. to Fond of the natural mysticism we saw in American honey). Feature film newcomer Nick Rowland doesn’t want it to be worse and introduces an autistic boy who only feels peace when he sits on a horse riding school.

The little guy is the emotional hub of the movie, but it is his father Douglas who plays the main role: a former boxer who now acts as a muscle man for the local mafia in a tiny, rocking hole in the Irish. No, it’s not straightforward Cosa Nostra, this gang is made up of a crowd of tense and brutal people who call themselves a family called The Devers. The manager is skinny, unaesthetic, and possibly innate, and as a stranger it is hard to understand that he can have any power at all, but the gang has developed a self-organizing system based on undisputed loyalty.

Douglas sighed Farther and more in The Devers and he ends up in a situation where he has to choose between them and his real little family.
And you have to look for a more frustrating torpedo. His great physique indicates he’s the man for the job, but Douglas appears to be hurting just as much, for every blow he takes. In almost all cases.

British films Nick Rowland and Joe Murtaugh (Screenplay) combine two well-used films, bounded by outdated narratives. Partly that place where the criminal tries to disconnect from his destructive life but is constantly drawn to it again, partly it relates to the tough guy who has a soft interior. This is what you can call the macho sobriety. We must feel sorry for a man clashing with others, only because we “know” that he carries within him a bloody humanity.

Douglas Anesthesia The abuse with a gentle glance, and in the end, makes himself totally impossible in the eyes of the undersigned, ending instead the sympathy for the boy and his mother who unfortunately move only on the sidelines of the story.

But well, even though it looks bad so far in text, it isn’t. If you like cruelty, in both man and nature, there is a lot to pick up here. Not least in photography and production design. Panoramic images of the dynamic nature surrounding people’s lives, the cool gray sea and gorgeous green mountains create an almost postcard-like atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to the mental and physical scarcity that fades as the story approaches its petite size. village.

Then there is Something with Supporting Actor Barry Keogan; Something far fetched and anxious. Thrilling. In Yorgos Lanthimos The Killing of a Sacred Deer, he makes full use of his mysterious aura as his character invades a medical family. This role is not complicated but still every scene in which he appears gets more dangerous and boring.

Simultaneous premiere at cinema and raffle on December 2.