Amongst the Wolves (Aiden Gillen) (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts | A film made for just €16,000 - video Dailymotion

Film Brain

Game of Thrones star Aiden Gillen co-stars in this Irish crime thriller made on an impressively tiny budget, but Film Brain thinks the results are very derivative.

Transcript

00:00The Irish crime thriller Amongst the Wolves was shot for just 16,000 euros in 15 days,

00:06which is by far the most impressive thing about it.

00:09Ex-soldier Luke McQuillan is homeless, struggling to try and keep custody of his son

00:13when he encounters fellow rough sleeper Daniel Fee,

00:16who is on the run from crime boss Aidan Gillan that he owes a major debt to.

00:22McQuillan attempts to help Fee, but Gillan isn't going to let him out of his grasp easily.

00:26Directed by Mark McConnor of Cardboard Gangsters, Amongst the Wolves looks surprisingly professional

00:31for a film shot that quickly and cheaply, with the lighting and cinematography especially

00:36making it look much more expensive than it really is.

00:39Where the budget shows, I think, is in the action moments, much of which is implied or off-camera,

00:45so the filmmakers try to hide it by focusing more on tension,

00:48but this means this lacks the punch, literally, of many of its peers.

00:52But the real problem is the script, written by O'Connor and his leading man,

00:56which tries to mix crime thriller with social drama, but the results are very muddled and lacking focus,

01:01meaning it does neither particularly well.

01:04McQuillan performs decently in the leading role as the ex-soldier, tormented by PTSD,

01:09that is trying to rebuild his life, but thwarted by his trauma and anger.

01:13However, this theme is very familiar of late, and the film's depiction feels more rote than genuine.

01:19Likewise, the film wants to comment on the difficulties of homelessness,

01:22and is strongest in the opening when it focuses on that,

01:25but it's undermined when the plot kicks in, as those scenes frees up any tension trying to be built.

01:31Unfortunately, the crime thriller side of it fares even worse.

01:34I don't expect a low-budget film to reinvent the genre,

01:37but that part of it feels weak and derivative,

01:39more grim than gripping.

01:41The biggest name in the cast, Aidan Gillan, must have only done a few days' work on this,

01:46but he is the highlight here, getting an especially sinister monologue about what he did to his dog.

01:52Gillan's just asked to be the kind of nasty piece of work he's played many times before,

01:57but he's still effective at it,

01:59although he's only in a handful of scenes and disappears for much of the second half.

02:04But the plot is filled with cliches and contrivances,

02:06made worse by characters doing exceptionally idiotic things just to get themselves deeper in a hole,

02:12or pointless sequences like Macquillan trying to steal his own child

02:15that adds nothing to the story and makes him less sympathetic.

02:20When your resources are so tight, you need to be lean and mean,

02:23because every moment wasted squanders money you don't have,

02:27and Amongst the Wolves is at least 20 minutes too long.

02:30If you want an Irish crime flick in this vein,

02:32go check out Calm With Horses instead,

02:34which this often feels like it's trying to be.

Amongst the Wolves (Aiden Gillen) (REVIEW) | Projector Shorts | A film made for just €16,000

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