Rosie. (12A.)
Directed by Paddy Breathnach.
Starring Sarah Green, Moe Dunford, Ellie O'Halloran, Ruby Dunne, Darragh Mckenzie, Molly McCann. 84 mins.
This Irish drama is simple and repetitive with unremarkable characters who develop very little over the course of its running time and the film is all the better for it. The topic is homelessness which used to be the preserve of the poor but is really coming up in the world in the 21st century. Rosie's (Greene) husband John Paul (Dunford) has a steady job in a kitchen but after their landlord decides to sell up, they and their four children find themselves living out of their car. Every day is a struggle: getting the kids ready for school, ringing around a list of council approved hotels to get a room for the night and then, if there is time, looking for somewhere permanent.
The script by Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle ( The Commitments) understands that the situation is so shocking, so unfair, it doesn't need embellishing. All it needs is to give the actors enough to convince us that these are completely ordinary, decent members of society who are shamed and embarrassed to find themselves excluded from it for no real reason.
The film is shot in that urgent Ken Loach way that has been the way of campaigning social realist dramas since Cathy Come Home. Over half a century of kitchen sink dramas have been thrown at the issue of homelessness and it hasn't made a bit of difference.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach.
Starring Sarah Green, Moe Dunford, Ellie O'Halloran, Ruby Dunne, Darragh Mckenzie, Molly McCann. 84 mins.
This Irish drama is simple and repetitive with unremarkable characters who develop very little over the course of its running time and the film is all the better for it. The topic is homelessness which used to be the preserve of the poor but is really coming up in the world in the 21st century. Rosie's (Greene) husband John Paul (Dunford) has a steady job in a kitchen but after their landlord decides to sell up, they and their four children find themselves living out of their car. Every day is a struggle: getting the kids ready for school, ringing around a list of council approved hotels to get a room for the night and then, if there is time, looking for somewhere permanent.
The script by Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle ( The Commitments) understands that the situation is so shocking, so unfair, it doesn't need embellishing. All it needs is to give the actors enough to convince us that these are completely ordinary, decent members of society who are shamed and embarrassed to find themselves excluded from it for no real reason.
The film is shot in that urgent Ken Loach way that has been the way of campaigning social realist dramas since Cathy Come Home. Over half a century of kitchen sink dramas have been thrown at the issue of homelessness and it hasn't made a bit of difference.
