Rain & Hail Mary’s
A black Irish comedy with plenty of faith and begorrah.
REDEMPTION OF A ROGUE
Directed by Philip Doherty
If The Banshees of Inisherin has induced a hankering for more Irish black comedy, then this picaresque tale is certainly up the same end of the paint chart. Just don’t expect the same gloss or fine brushwork.
It’s the screen-directing debut of prolific Irish playwright Philip Doherty, who delivers a film of theatrical rhythm beneath what can feel like a bingo card of biblical allusions. That starts with the return of a prodigal son, Jimmy Cullen (Aaron Monaghan), a wastrel who arrives back in his village to a head-butt greeting from his brother Damien. He’s just in time to see his hated father shuffle off, only for the old man’s will to stipulate he can’t be buried on a rainy day. But rain it does.
Meanwhile, Jimmy ponders ending it all between befriending Masha (Aisling O’Mara), who is the village’s drug dealer and pub singer (“Mary Magdalene” and “cast the first stone”, tick and tick), and trying to be his brother’s keeper when it comes to money owed to some dodgy characters.
Monaghan remains impressively deadpan, and all that grim whimsy, wallowing Irish guilt and terrible weather is leavened throughout by a curiously jubilant use of music.
It’s certainly not the first Irish film to start with a wake or have the Virgin Mary turn up for a chat and its jumble of fantasy and flashback sequences can all get a bit much.
But its soggy setting and gospel analogies make it an amusingly irreverent Easter cinema option. ★★★
IN CINEMAS NOW
Films are rated out of 5: ★ (abysmal) to ★★★★ (amazing)