He thinks he has found a kindred spirit in local girl Hanna (Isabelle Connolly) and something else to care about in a wounded sparrow he nurses back to health. Mourning his mother, lonely Kevin rides around the small coastal town of Baltimore on his brother’s quad bike. Larry buries his grief in silence and alcohol. Kevin picks over his mother’s possessions that are now stored away in the attic, wearing her jacket and trying on an old lipstick. Kinirons’ screenplay is good at defining a relationship marked by the disappointment and resentment of two men who cannot acknowledge their common suffering. Kevin is the son who never meets his father’s expectations. In terms of expressing his feelings, a manly hug is as far as he is prepared to go.Įldest son Robbie (Eanna Hardwicke) is set to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the cadets and pursuing a career in the military. His wife’s death in a car crash is something he deals with by never discussing it. His young sister Sally (Michelle Gleeson) has time for him but his father Larry (David O’Hara), a gruff army veteran, is as approachable as a wounded bear. His debut feature is set in West Cork, among lush green countryside and threatening coastal waters, where Kevin Coyne (played by compelling actor/musician Ollie West) is treated like a black sheep by his own family. Writer/director Kinirons has made a number of shorts ( Lowland Fell, I Can’t See You Anymore) and wrote the screenplay for the 2015 Nicole Kidman mystery Strangerland. There are no surprise twists or overt melodrama, just a careful, steady playing out of the story Well cast and beautifully shot on atmospheric Irish locations, this small-scale, effective drama should secure further festival attention and some modest theatrical interest following a world premiere at Galway. Repressed emotions find a way to surface and hit home in The Sparrow, Michael Kinirons’ sensitively handled debut feature which focuses on a teenage boy caught in the crosshairs of loss, grief, guilt and toxic masculinity.
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