Niall Heery’s Gold is one of those quirky off-beat Irish films that just seems to work, against all odds.
The premise is ground-breaking by no stretch of the imagination. Down on his luck and homeless, Ray returns to his Dublin hometown to visit his dying father, and sticks around to reconcile with his estranged family – childhood sweetheart Alice and their teenage daughter Abbie. Alice’s husband Frank, makes any reconcilation difficult for Ray, as he pushes step-daughter Abbie to focus all her energy on her running career.
The comedy in Gold comes from the awkwardness between Ray and the various characters he encounters along the way, but the heart of the film is quite dark, dealing with depression and suicide. The juxtaposition of this drama with the comedy works well to keep the audience interested throughout.
David Wilmot steals the show as Ray, with great supporting performances from James Nesbitt and Kerry Condon as Frank and Alice. Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams captures the teenage nature of Abbie perfectly, although her Irish accent was strained, with hints of her proper English dialect constantly breaking through.
Abbie’s dialect aside, however, Gold is an enjoyable theatre outing for those with an interest in Irish cinema.
Gold opens in Irish cinemas October 10th
Cian Taaffe