Director
John Butler
Credits
Producers:
Rebecca O'Flannagan
Robert Walpole
Writer:
John Butler
Principal Cast
Fionn O'Shea
Nicholas Galitzine
Andrew Scott
Category
Feature
LGBTQIA+
Returning to boarding school after the holidays, Ned (Fionn O’Shea), a bullied but resilient outsider, is dismayed to find he has been assigned a new roommate, Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a rugby-playing Adonis. When Conor is drafted into the gang of jocks who are Ned’s prime tormentors, the animosity between them deepens until English teacher Mr Sherry (Andrew Scott) insists they work together on a variety show duet. An unlikely friendship develops complicated by sexuality, secrets and the need to find one’s own voice.
John Butler’s (The Stag) new film fits the classic coming-of-age/coming-out mould with equal measures of comedy and drama peppering the road to self-acceptance. Featuring a 1980s indie soundtrack, a top-notch cast and some damn fine rugby, the film is an absolute gem.
Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn
95 minutes, Ireland, 2016, Colour