What Richard Did (15) 88 mins ****
Irish
director Lenny Abrahamson here follows up cult gems Adam & Paul and Garage
with something serious: a deft and atmospheric study of a teenager getting out
of his depth. Born into boho privilege, Richard (Jack Reynor) is the natural
leader of his provincial rugby-club gang: while the lads merely look up to this
solid alpha, the girls fancy him rotten. A relationship with the pretty Lara
(Roisin Murphy) seems promising, but the way he looks at her suggests
something’s amiss; when violence breaks out at a party, Richard finds the
burden of adult responsibility atop his broad scrumhalf’s shoulders.
Sensitively
adapted by Malcolm Campbell from Kevin Power’s novel Bad Day in Blackrock, it’s the most conventional film Abrahamson
has so far made, yet still markedly different from comparable teenpics. Absent
is Kidulthood’s stabby
sensationalism; instead, there’s a near-Scandinavian, Hamlet-like sense of brooding, underlined by this director’s
ever-sharp eye for landscape, and the presence of Lars Mikkelsen (Mads’
brother, The Killing’s Troels
Hartmann) as Richard’s da. A life is at stake here, and Abrahamson, Campbell
and the charismatic Reynor give it compellingly authentic shape: you’ll likely
know someone exactly like Richard.
What Richard Did opens in selected cinemas from today, and is also available via Curzon on Demand here.
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