Calm With Horses

There's a thing about Irish seaside towns that would drain the life out of your face. The dreary, depressing Hibernian cousins of the Costa Del Sol's ones. Gray, washed out places that die a death the second the sun isn't shining. Calm With Horses is set around one such place. It's a film as grim as it's surroundings but unlike the place it portrays you'll be happy to spend some time here.

Douglas Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis) coulda been a contender. A boxer who fought for his county until an incident on the canvas ended his career prematurely. Now for his sins he's muscle for the Devers, a pack of scumbags who are only happily when they're inflicting pain on others. Dympna Devers (Barry Keoghan), the young gun of the family has big plans for his own future and uncle Paudi Devers (an unsettling Ned Dennehy) has big plans for Douglas. Away from his life of crime Douglas has something else to live for; his ex Ursula (Niamh Algar) and their autistic son Jack. Ursula has her own future plans but everything they know is jeopardised when Douglas performs an act as unwise as it is merciful.

As dark and grim and upsetting as it is there's something very special about Calm With Horses. That something is Cosmo Jarvis. He's astounding in the lead role, displaying the kind of magnetism that got the biggest names of the 20th century noticed. He's a beast, a man not afraid to kick the shit out of someone bleeding on the floor yet away from external forces he's as fragile as a fawn, always on the verge of letting his emotions overwhelm him. Jarvis nails him, turning what could be a one note bastard into someone to be pitied and cared about. His Douglas isn't the full shilling, perhaps an aftereffect of too many punches in his former career though he's no fool, always knowing what's going on but weak, craving affection and friendship and allowing this need to lead him down dark paths.

Down the darkest park is Dympna. A venal little fucker, the playground bully who can mouth off whenever and wherever knowing Douglas is watching out for him. Keoghan is terrifying in the part because we all know filth like him, we all remember them from school, from work, from the local. You're on edge whenever he's onscreen. That fiery energy that got him an upcoming part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in full effect here. Thankfully Niamh Algar's Ursula tempers the stress. Her character isn't an innocent bystander and the guilt written across her face shows she knows it but her interactions with Douglas give the film a touch of warmth, a frisson of hope. Even when they are fighting you can see the chemistry between them, the bond that still ties them together even when she's looking elsewhere for love. The 'what could have been' making a sad story even sadder.

Director Nick Rowland's first full length feature is an indictment of small town life. The places where having nothing to do and nowhere to go leads to nowhere good. Those innocent looking little villages where all the evil lurks underneath, out of sight, dodgy deeds done in the light of the moon, in farmyards miles from civilisation, in pubs and sitting rooms where law abiding folk wouldn't dare to tread. Where your friends will smile in your face and knife your back. It all sounds fierce black doesn't it. There's no denying it's a tough watch but it does end up in a strangely uplifting place. You just have to make your way through the darkness to it and being lead by a brilliant turn from Jarvis isn't a bad way to do it.

Calm With Horses had the bad luck to be released into cinemas mere days before the Covid-19 lockdown happened. But hopefully now it will find a new audience online. It deserves to be watched. It's really good.

Available on all streaming platforms now.