The characters were established early in the film and the acting, I thought, was superb, a few of the young children were clearly aware of the camera, but the acting was a million miles from wooden. Some of the devices and sub plots from TV shows like The Wire are kind of inevitable when the movie is dealing with a similar sub-culture. Although I am an English speaker who is fairly used to Irish accents, I found, not the accent, but the vocabulary and expressions of the protagonists quite hard to follow.
The story was well written and although it had a limited narrative,it was, almost like a documentary, able to describe the community quickly and the main players were put into context simply by showing authority and deference,a nice touch. There is an inevitability about this type of tale and most of tension comes from waiting to see how and who is responsible for the denouement. I will have to watch it a few more times to follow the dialogue but as I love Irish films, for me, it will be an investment worth making.
