Cardboard Gangsters. Well worth your time.

the lads

Some mild spoilers.

From it's evocative opening scenes to it's watch through your fingers ending Cardboard Gangsters feels like it's the real deal.

Jay Connolly is a wannabe DJ from Darndale and the de-facto leader of a gang made up of his childhood friends, the easy going and loyal Cobbie, the careful and wary Glenner and the whacked out mouthpiece Dano . They are young bored men, gobby, cocky and mad to prove they have the stuff to take over the local drug scene. When Jay loses his social welfare because of a nixer they finally decide to give real criminality a whirl. But the current head of the Darndale drug scene, Derra, doesn't like competition. Not one bit. And the fact that his wife Kim has eyes for Jay isn't going to help matters.

I really liked this. It felt real. No pretty boy drug dealers. No lovely flats with lovely views. The faces and areas looked lived in and authentic. It's fast moving, never boring. It's not a long film but never feels rushed and has plenty of meat on its bones. Characters are sketched in enough to make us care. We get a good sense that the main characters are lifelong friends from a couple of scenes and some well written lines. The film gives us just enough of the main character's backstory too that we can (just about) empathise with him and understand how he got to this place in life. Great acting too, no weak link, ok some of the actors you can just tell it's their first time but no one really puts a foot wrong. Apart from Damien Dempsey (who looked like he was about to laugh after one badly delivered line but he looks the part so we'll leave him off). The story is nothing new but when it's this well done I can't complain. 

It's dark stuff, not surprising considering the subject matter. It's heavy going and not for everyone. Thankfully there is a laugh or two sprinkled into the mix, including a great sight gag involving a piece of Garda equipment. I've seen reviews mention it's violence. It is brutal in places but it's not a graphic film. The majority of its violence is off-screen or happening just out of frame. It's played off the faces of the perpetrators and left to your imagination which can actually at times make it seem even worse. But it's not gratuitous and fits the context of the film. The language though, janey, that's where the film earns it's 18 certificate.

John Connors is immense in this. He's lost the awkwardness he had in some of his Love/Hate scenes and puts in a brilliant performance here. A simmering ball of rage one step away from exploding, brilliantly brooding. There's a one take shot late in the film of an emotional outburst that's up just jaw dropping. Fionn Walton as Dano is great too. So great that he started to annoy me because he reminded me of a few people I know. All talk and no trousers. Jimmy Smallhorne as Derra certainly looks the part and puts in a suitably menacing performance but shows the character's human side too especially in later scenes. Kierston Wareing makes the most of a smaller role as the glamorous gangster's moll who likes the bad boys a bit too much. Her role is one that that has turned up in crime films over and over again since the early days of cinema but she definitely makes it her own.

It's a lovely looking film. From the hazy halcyonic run through old buildings and woods at the beginning to a scene shot through the smoke from a half hearted bonfire. Darndale is far from a photogenic place but the director finds small pockets of beauty in there. The warm glow of summer is captured well. The film must have been made in the 4 days of summer we got last year.

It's a film for modern day Ireland. Young men, lost, forgotten, nothing to do, no work, a government that doesn't care about them, turning to the only work they can get.  A mention of social welfare fraud will stick in Leo Varadkar's craw if he ever watches it. This is about the Ireland that doesn't matter to the big boys.

Definitely director Mark O'Connor's best work yet. He's matured into a fine filmmaker. King Of The Travellers and Stalker especially were good though rough around the edges but had bucket loads of promise and with this film he's definitely delivered on that promise. The chap is full of talent and I'd love to see him move away from crime for his next film. Himself and John Connors make a super team and I hope they continue to work together.

A couple of negatives. Too many drug fueled montages. They got old by the second one and by the fourth I rolled my eyes but they didn't last too long. A subplot involving that old mainstay of Irish films, the Ra, seemed unfinished too and sort of shoehorned in but I suppose when you are dealing in this area of life they do cast a large shadow over it.

TLDR; A cracking and gritty slice of life that feels genuine and that's buoyed by some superb acting. Oh and the soundtrack is lethal. Packed with Irish hiphop.  You'll learn a lesson from this film too. Drugs are bad. Don't fuck about with them. It never ever ends well. 

Go see it if you can. It feels great to support Irish cinema.