BALLYWALTER

Brand new Northern Irish film written by Prassana Puwanarajah , starring Seana Kerslake and Patrick Kielty.

Located in Northern Ireland, Ballywater tells the story of a young woman who has returned to her hometown of Ballywalter after a relative failure of making it work in London. She finds herself a bit arrested in her development while the rest of her family and life has progressed without her; her sister is expecting a new baby and she is struggling to keep down part-time work in cafes. This has led to her landing a job driving a taxi to make regular income. 

During this role, she happens upon a regular fare of Shane (Kielty in his first acting role) a man being driven to a stand-up comedy workshop as he embarks upon a new chapter in his life. The film is the bond these two forge together during their regular cab journeys to and from Belfast back to the eponymous town.

While the first half of the film is firmly Eileen's story, an unfortunate accident leads to her spending more time with Shane through consequence and we get to learn more about Shane's backstory and history, from his separation from his wife to his seeking for solace in comedy.

The film is a wonder to watch helmed by two great lead performances that anchor the film that could easily waiver if not for them and the sure-hand direction by first time director Puwanarajah with a well observed script from Belfast writer Stacey Gregg. A film of fleeting moments and those people who come into your life and just as quickly, leaving an indelible impression upon you and the rawness with which it addresses the character's emotions especially in Shane's final stand-up routine where he opens up about his depression. This is derivative of the film's low production budget which if it had a larger scale might have come across as pompous, yet the close-ups utilised help garner a strong emotional connection to the film.

The film is beautifully shot, depicting Northern Ireland not through a rose-tinted lense but proudly displaying the greyness of it all. Yet the actors embody their two lead roles with great relish with Kielty (enjoying a purple patch in his career as he is now host of The Late Late Show in Ireland) is quite the revelation delivering all the dramatic notes when required on point.

The employment of an ending reminiscent of Lost in Translation, says as much about the film's influences and its hope to appeal to an audience that is cine-literate and it is not a bad film to borrow film with this relationship that can go no further than being platonic yet it finds both leads embarking on second chances.

The confident direction by a new director married with two strong lead performances means this is a film that will reward the viewer in spades; its a low key wonder of a film that should be cherished.

Ballywalter is out on limited release in UK/Ireland from 22nd September