Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Cardboard Gangsters

    • Director

      Mark O'Connor

    • Credits

      Producer:
      Richard Bolger

      Writers:
      John Connors
      Mark O’Connor

    • Principal Cast

      John Connors
      Fionn Walton
      Kierston Wareing
      Jimmy Smallhorne
      Paul Alwright
      Ryan Lincoln

  • Category

    Feature

John Connors plays Jay Connolly, a part-time DJ and low-level drug dealer living in Darndale, an area rife with gangland violence, drugs and social problems. When his welfare payments are cut off, he decides it’s time to start dealing more serious drugs, where the money may be better but the stakes are much higher. Jay knows he’s playing a dangerous game and struggles to balance his family’s debts and the demands of his pregnant girlfriend, while avoiding the attention of ruthless drug baron Derra Murphy who rules the neighbourhood with an iron fist.

This highly-charged drama reflects the reality of Dublin’s violent drug feuds which make headlines daily. Mark O’Connor (King of the Travellers, Between the Canals) paints a vivid picture in big, bold strokes capturing the heightened drama of gangland life, punctuated with welcome moments of dark comic relief from his punchy young cast.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn

90 minutes, Ireland, 2016, Colour

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