Set in 1990s Belfast, a single mother and IRA member is arrested after a failed bombing attempt. She then is given a choice: Spy on her IRA comrades, or spend a long prison term away from her young son.
Despite solid performances, a slow first half takes away from this otherwise effective drama about an IRA sympathizer whose life becomes more complicated after she's coerced into spying for MI-5.
Plays slyly with noir; adroitly twists and turns away from easy expectations in its final minutes. This thriller's got one sharp, savage ending. Marsh takes a black-eyed stare out from the gravestone-gray, waning days of the Troubles.
These are characters for whom true belief in a cause has probably become impossible; they know how much that costs. Marsh does a compelling job of illustrating that for the rest of us.
The acting in this film is very good. The plot is lean and powerful. It is pretty depressing, but it seems true enough in its depiction of this troubled period of history.
This British thriller by James Marsh is a little too neatly scripted and tightly edited for my taste, but there are galvanizing performances from Andrea Riseborough... and Clive Owen.
