While Irish director Dean Kavanagh’s latest film sees him take a step away from his previous, more purely experimental work towards a traditional, narrative style, the playful approach to the medium of cinema on display and the healthy dose of humour utilised throughout will satisfy those who have followed his career to date even as it entices new audiences to the form.

John Kline Jnr. (John Curran) is an amateur filmmaker and cinema projectionist who was abandoned by his parents in unexplained circumstances as a child. Deeply affected by this trauma into adulthood, he hires actors to help him recreate his family’s home movies in an attempt to make sense of their disappearance. Kavanagh’s multi-layered, multi-formatted approach investigates questions of memory and the increasing role of technology in the mediation of experience in a manner evocative of Atom Egoyan and will no doubt reward repeat viewings.

Notes by Kevin Coyne

IFCO cert: 15A

Awards:
Best Feature Film, New Jersey International Film Festival, 2023

Placed no. 39 in the Irish Times’s Top 50 Films of 2022.