Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Abner Pastoll, Defiant Screen Entertainment.
Cast: Sara Bolger, Edward Hogg, Andrew Simpson, Jane Brennan.
Graphic performance by Bolger (Emelie, The Tudors) as Sarah builds tension at a rapid pace in this story of a young mother faced with terrifying choices when a drug dealer criminal, Tito (Simpson) invades her home.
Described as a “nerve-rattling suspense thriller”, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find is a gloomy and audacious journey through Northern Ireland’s criminal underbelly.
Sarah has recently been widowed and will go to any lengths to protect her children as she seeks the truth behind her husband’s murder.
As one woman tries to protect her family while uncovering the truth behind her husband’s demise is hard going, sprinkling layers of female wrath, domestic drama and gangland grief into acceptable levels of escalating violence.
A worn out mother of two, Sarah carries the twin burdens of a recently deceased husband and the youngest of her two children mysteriously refusing to speak. People in her council flats development think her husband was a drug dealer.
Working on a script by Ronan Blaney, Pastoll finds a measure of fragility and shade in its reveal: a minor miracle of severity and tempo. This pitiless revenge story lacks vigour.
Pastoll, Blaney and especially Bolger all contrive to deliver as satisfying a climax and conclusion to this saga (on DVD) as one could hope for.
