Fancy a punch in the gut? Look no further.
Calm With Horses is the feature length directorial debut from Nick Rowland. Set in rural Ireland, ex-boxer Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong (Cosmo Jarvis) has become the ‘strongman’ for an Irish crime family known as The Devers. Think The Mafia, except they’re Irish and a lot more threatening to look at. Whilst Arm has a family of his own including autistic son Jack, he’s forced to remain loyal to the family through no fault of his own. One day however, he’s asked by his boss and ‘friend’ (played by Barry Keoghan) to do the one thing he never wanted to do again: kill a man.
I can’t be the only one who needed subtitles to understand what the fuck Cosmo Jarvis was saying, can I? That’s not a bad thing though: despite it not always being understandable, I have it on good authority that his Irish accent is spot on.
Aside from my English ignorance, Jarvis gives a brilliant performance here. The entire cast is great actually, but he stands out as the lead to the extent where I’m looking forward to seeing him in other things. You may come to this film for Keoghan, but Jarvis steals the show, giving an absolutely stellar, mature performance that guarantees he won’t be an ‘unknown’ for much longer.
As a lover of a good opening sequence, I was absolutely taken aback by this one. The montage that begins Calm With Horses plays out to perfection. It gives you just the right amount of context and backstory, and is crafted so expertly that it puts you into these people’s lives immediately. Just wonderful to see.
The story really is everything here. It’s such an intense, dark narrative that really pulls you in from the very first word. It’s difficult to relate to any of it as a middle class white woman with no ties to any gangs, but that doesn’t matter. The sound mixing and the lighting create such a sinister tone that you’ll not be able to take your eyes off it. A simply outstanding directorial movie debut from Nick Rowland, and I’m sure this will lead to an exceptional career for him.
To be honest, my interest dipped in the middle during the “happy” parts, but they were definitely necessary as some breathing room amongst all the heaviness. However, this film is the perfect length and is a really nicely shot 100 minutes, so it’s absolutely worth the watch.
Now, pass the Jameson.
Calm With Horses is available to stream on Netflix in the UK.
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