All Good Children

admin | December 24, 2010 | Comments (0)

DIR/WRI: Alicia Duffy • PRO: Jonathan Cavendish, Tom Dercourt, Sophie Erbs, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Patrick Quinet, Tora Young • DOP: Nanu Segal • ED: Nicolas Chaudeurge • DES: Igor Gabriel • CAST: Jack Gleeson, David Brazil, Kate Duchêne, Martin Firket, David Wilmot

Following the critical acclaim of her short films, All Good Children is writer/director Alicia Duffy’s first feature-length film. The story opens on two young Irish brothers who, following the suicide of their mother, are relocated to rural France to stay with their aunt. The younger of the two boys, Dara (Jack Gleeson), strikes up a friendship with the daughter of a local English family, Bella. While the two are initially inseparable, when Bella begins to distance herself from an increasingly intense Dara, he isn’t ready to let her go.

Told from Dara’s perspective, All Good Children is the account of a boy’s attempts to understand and deal with the sudden loss of his mother. The lack of an adult role model is all too evident as Dara’s grip on reality becomes increasingly unstable with Gleeson mesmerising in his portrayal of the vulnerable and desperate protagonist. Dialogue is left to a minimum and is ultimately unnecessary as Dara’s emotions are written all over his face with nervous smiles, twitches and fought-back tears.

Duffy expertly steers this haunting story, utilising the camera and score as much as her actors to convey the complex and oft dark emotions that the children are unable to express verbally.

Peter White

Rated 15A (see IFCO website for details)

All Good Children is released 27th Dec 2010