Film Reviews

8.5 Hours

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Jonathan Byrne
• Details: Ireland / 112mins (16).

With Anton, W.C and, now, 8.5 Hours, a growing number of filmmakers are proving films can be made outside the warm embrace of Irish Film Board funding.

The plot revolves around four employees of a successful Dublin-based computer programming company in the final months of the property boom in 2007. Rachel (Callaghan) has serious money woes: plans of buying an overpriced apartment with her boyfriend come undone when she cheats on him and he turfs her out; Rachel must now find an extra ten grand by the end of the day to buy the place on her own. Eoin (Burke) has money troubles too: he's about to be married, but pushy fiancée Lisa (Clodagh Reid) is planning a BIG wedding that's going to cost upwards of twenty-five thousand. But Eoin isn't sure if he's gay, straight or bisexual. Tony (Byrne) is the embodiment of everything that was wrong with the boom: he's self-indulgent, vacuous, materialistic and driven solely by money (well, not solely, as bedding as many women as he can is high on his priority list too). Frank (Kearns) isn't struggling financially but his marriage is in the toilet for reasons unbeknownst to the audience until much later. Set over one day during the titular time period, all these issues will come to a head...
8.5 Hours sets its stall out early - it's going to be a Celtic Tiger movie and it's going to be a downer - and in fairness to writer-director Brian Lally, he never loses sight of that goal. Lally, too, isn't afraid to inject some David Lynch weirdness when he wants to either (a sub plot involving Geraldine Plunkett boasts a very unexpected climax). Kearns, Burke, Callaghan, Byrne and, later, a small turn from Gary Egan, all do what's asked. The movie doesn't work when writer-director Lally writes on the nose - when his characters inform the audience on how they're feeling instead of showing us. It's a theme-driven film (the theme being the property bust) and Lally strives too hard at times to ensure the dialogue in some way refers to the Celtic Tiger. When he isn't doing that, the film breathes and is better for it. With a low budget of €100,000 you're always going to have a few technical problems (sometimes the sound changes from shot to shot) but Lally must be applauded for bringing in a film with those constraints.

Review by Gavin Burke