Fantasia '19 Film Review - A Good Woman Is Hard To Find

Sarah (Sarah Bolger) is struggling to support her family after the murder of her husband in the notorious Belfast Estate neighbourhood. Her son Ben (Rudy Doherty) has not spoken since his Dad's death while daughter Lucy (Macie McCauley) tries to fill the void left by her brother's silence. Sarah is hassled constantly by a creepy store monitor at the local grocery store and her mom wants her to move back in with her believing that Sarah's late husband Steven took away the youth, vibrancy, and potential of her daughter.

Into this picture storms small-time street hustler Tito (Andrew Simpson). He bursts into the family home while running from the Miller gang who he's just ripped off deciding to stash the stolen drugs at Sarah's as the perfect cover. Sarah is reluctant but her cut of the sales allows for more for the kids until Ben discovers and destroys the balance of the stash.

A mother trying desperately to keep her independence, solve the murder of her husband and seek treatment for her now mute son centres Abner Pastol's film. We see pictures of Sarah when she was happy, stress free and healthy opposing her current state of anxious uncertainty while mourning the death of her husband. Rohan Blaney's script has no extra scenes or wasted dialogue. A sequence that might seem to be a throwaway at the time links to a key event later in the piece.

Sarah Bolger is in just about every frame of the film. She is meek cowering early on when harassed by the Greens Food Fare store monitor, dismissed by the police and demeaned by her mom. Her fortitude grows during a visit from social services building to a critical interaction with Tito and on to her actions in the third act. Eric Hogg is the gangster scholar as Leo Miller. He corrects the grammar of his intended victims before he is about to strike and gives the best explanation of Realpolitik riffing off Tito's name this side of a 3rd year University History class. Andrew Sampson as Tito injects a unique comedic perspective on how he sees the world. He's a home invader but fair to Sarah even though he has mite on his side. These three performances drive the film that is fair value for its 97 minute run time and one that I can recommend.

*** Out of 4.

A Good Woman Is Hard To Find | Abner Pastol | U.K. /Belgium/ Ireland | 2019 | 97 Minutes.

Tags: Widow, Murder, Psychological Trauma, Car Theft, Robbery, Home Invasion, Stash, 40%, Realpolitik,  Good Samaritan.