Hello, Cassie Holt. Private investigator Cassie Holt (Alice Eve) is hired by the local police force led by Rory McMahon (Paul Reid) to track down the killer of her mentor Mikeal Tallini (Antonio Banderas) who is implicated in a series of grisly crimes they were looking into. She quickly finds out that Jamie Douglas (Shelley Hennig) is on a quest to avenge the abuse she suffered as a child, held captive along with a lot of other little children by a local family who raped and abused them. Dottie Evans (Olwen Fouéré) and her husband Edgar (Nick Dunning) are the culprits but the chicanery of a local solicitor Victor Harrison (Matthew Tompkins) is protecting them. However Jamie’s mission will not be stopped … I’m a trained librarian, remember? The screenplay by Charles Burnley constructs Cassie’s relationship with regular flashbacks integrating her present-day skills with scenes of her training. Mikeal is an acerbic character who has taught her everything she knows but her own past as a victim of her step-grandfather intrudes into her life. When she encounters someone with a similar background and a different method for handling a terrible past this violent retribution ensues. What you two have going on is the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen, observes Garda McMahon. Bad people did bad things. As Cassie and Jamie establish something close to equilibrium, the truth about the wealthiest people in the area becomes clear and a conspiracy is revealed. Some of this is about generational entitlement: We built this entire part of the country. Mostly it’s about perversion. Fouéré, who was we’ve pointed out elsewhere, is practically a trope unto herself (the madwoman with white hair) is an atypical Irish Mammy indeed, salivating over the prospect of torturing her favourite victim. All the broken dollies playing together. The weird scene-setting, illogical events and horrible images of raped children are not assisted by a rather uneven performance from Eve who is expected to be all things to everyone. Neither coherent enough tonally to make a comment on its avowed subject nor sufficiently stylish and batshit crazy to plunge into the realm of so bad it’s good trash, this certainly instills a newfound respect for librarians: information studies never looked so alluring. Directed by Jon Keeyes and shot on location in Ireland. When will this end?
mondomovies 