Film Category: Drama

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Happyend (Sora, 2024) is a coming-of-age film about a group of teenagers in a Japanese city that sets itself in the near future. With the film setting itself as a dystopian vision of what might be to come, it is striking to see the portrayal of young adults at the heart of it. Youth being corrupted by surveillance and altogether authoritarian order. That’s not to say the film is totally bleak in its outlook. The spirit of youth through rebellion and altogether hope for a better future is what shines through the most and acts paradoxically as a reassuring picture of what is to come rather than just downbeat visions of future technological changes.

The further the film delves into a dystopian vision of a future, the more rebellious the youngsters become. They all believe that society needs to change like most youth do, but it is about the lengths they will go to to achieve this. One teenager needs citizenship to Japan and can only get this through behaving well, others want good grades to be able to get into their selected universities. It becomes a balancing act between wanting these aspirations, but at the same time having to comply to immoral societal values which they have become part of. As stated before, this is in a society that is more dystopian that the world today. Yet it highlights the situation most teenagers face at this age. To rebel is to highlight injustice and bring about change, yet stability in life is also needed to create a harmonious life.

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The description of this film being this generations Before Sunset (Linklater, 2004) definitely ring true. The film concerns the story of Charlie (Liath Hannon) who is a trans woman that has moved to Dublin for college. Jace (Adam Lunnon-Collery) is the person she meets at a house party where the film goes on to show their relationship with one another and also revealing more of their own back stories.

For an independent film that I’m sure had a very limited budget, it definitely didn’t feel this way. When there inside, it is a hostile environment for the pair where others are causing ructions in their dynamics with one another. The outside world is what prevents the pair from being happy together, and this is seen best when they are in an intimate setting. When they are outside of the house party together, this is when you certainly feel that Charlie is able to breathe and be who she wants to be. It is also where the two of them find that bond with each other that drives the rest of the film. Therefore, even if there are just minimal indoor sets and easily accessible outdoor shots, they still create this juxtaposition that plays against the inner turmoil of Charlie and the world around her.

Charlie is studying filmmaking at Trinity college and you are shown early on a film she made that recreates cinema from the silent era. She herself has many silent era qualities to the performance in the film. Her looks and expressions were enough to tell a story in itself, where Jace’s reactions were based on something deeper than just what she was saying to him. The film itself would still be an enjoyable spectacle with the sound turned off, you understand the falling for each other and also the inner turmoil from both characters without even needing to hear what they are saying.

It is a film clearly inspired by the art of cinema and creating a piece of art in itself. The film feels like a debut for a director getting their first foot into the industry which isn’t a downside at all. It feels fresh and of its time, most importantly by someone who feels close to the story. You get lost in the story of the characters pretty much as soon as the film starts, which is a credit to the performance of the main leads and also the way the film creates its own emotion and feeling outside of just dialogue.

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Cillian Murphy stars as the lead in Steve (Mirlants, 2025) which is the latest British Netflix film that gets a limited release in cinemas. You feel like Netflix have their sites on a similar success to Adolesence with the film which not only is concerned with youth rage and masculinity growing up, but also uses certain editing and camera techniques to purvey this. This similarity in unique cinematography certainly is what works best for the film. It is set within 24 hours within a youth rehabilitation school where the damaged and unruly teenagers is played against the teachers trying to give them a second chance to make something of themselves. The short period of time in which it is set adds to the feeling that it really could be falling to pieces for them It is a gradual process but these 24 hours act as a microcosm to the overall decline in the school and even the rehabilitation chances for the children. The cinematography also makes the most of drone shots and obtuse angles that give a sense of the altered state in which it is set but more than anything create a great spectacle that adds to the feeling of the film rather than taking away from it.

That’s not to say everything in the film really seems to work that well. The film is about teenagers not having a sense of belonging, yet at times it seems like an allegory for the film itself. It struggles to know totally what it wants to be, there is little chance for character development and understanding the minds of the characters when the film is constantly having to deal with narrative points like the filming of a camera crew into the school, the announcement of the closure to the school, taking of a students life and the local MP coming to visit. It could’ve explored more thoroughly the emotions of the students and teachers just by following their every day actions in the school rather than having these plot devices create these emotions for them. The times where you get a glimpse into their feelings is because a news reporter is asking them psychological questions, rather than something we feel we have gone on a journey with the characters to discover. 

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The Long Walk (Lawrence, 2025) is the latest adaptation to be churned out of the Stephen King factory. Although interestingly this isn’t the standard horror picture you’d come to expect, yet this packs more of a visual punch.

The film itself bases its main plot line on one concept, a large group of men competing by walking as far as they can otherwise they will be killed by the army. It is this years battle royale, where others like Squid Game or The Hunger Games have come before it. This is where the film lacks the flair it really needed. The character development and relationship between characters didn’t come naturally but felt more like the communication between the characters was to stop the audience thinking they were watching speed walking at the olympics. No one else out of the 100 people competing communicated throughout apart from those talking with the main character in Raymond (Cooper Hoffman) or found themselves at the front of the pack. For a good battle royale film to work you have to feel the distraught nature it would be like to be in their shoes, here it feels more like there having a jolly time with each other and their not going on this journey together.

What does work is how visual the film is at times. It doesn’t shy away from showing the participants being murdered or the gruesome injuries they incur throughout the event. It manages to visualise the excessiveness that Stephen King delivers so well in his books. The film also acts as a glimpse into a dystopian world where what we learn about the environment outside of the race comes from the events that happen within it. It is a film that creates a world thats worthy of a King adaptation, yet it does still lack in the immersion needed from the characters in the film. Without the feeling of desperation your meant to share with the main protagonists, the little you care for each person falling victim of the dystopian system they are placed within.

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Christy (Canty, 2025) is a slow-burning realist piece of drama set on the northside of Cork that is as funny as it is moving. You are introduced to the main character in Christy from the start, but takes the length of the film to get more of an understanding of his back story. His inability to find his way in the world and even a place to live and thrive, is told through these nuggets of information you get of Christy’s back story rather than being plot points in themselves.

You follow him on a journey where there are just as many people trying to help Christy as there are those trying to exploit his vulnerabilities. The hairdresser who gives him the opportunity for work comments on this herself by saying there are many welcoming individuals in Cork as there are those who look to cause harm. This is also the case with the characters in the film who it is easy to tell where their intentions lie in terms of Christy’s future. The half-brother (Diarmuid Noyes) is the only character who muddles this distinction between good and evil for Christy where at times he’s seen to be doing good by rehoming him but later in the film you see that he quickly wants to get him back out. It shows the conflicted interested that he is placed into, he wants to help his half-brother, but at the same time he also has his own family he needs to look after. The complexity of his feelings also intertwines with the unravelling of Christy’s backstory: the more you learn about Christy, the more you realise how important they become to one another.

This is a well made film that reflects life in Ireland in such a real way. It doesn’t denigrate an impoverished community but shows how they can come together and help those within it to find a place in society that they feel accepted. It illustrates how each individual has their own back story which can play heavy on their future, but like every coming-of-age film their is always the turning point in each young persons life. More importantly it manages to play on all of this but have many funny and endearing moments throughout. The cheekiness of the young kids who befriend Christy and the Cork community shine through where no matter what they are faced with, it is humour and humanity what brings them through.