A clear theme emerged from this year’s festival lineup: sheep. Serving as plot points in no less than four films, including the excellent Shepherds and Meat, a family feud is sparked by the bleating beasts in Bring Them Down. For his directorial debut, writer-director Christopher Andrews assembled a top-notch cast of actors like Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott, Nora-Jane Noone and Irish cinema stalwart Colm Meaney. Set amid the green but desolate Irish countryside, Andrews paints a portrait of desperate men whose battle enmeshes two families in inconceivable ways.
Michael (Abbott) is single-handedly responsible for his family’s sheep business. His father, Ray (Meaney), is disabled and homebound, and his mother died in a car accident in which Michael was driving. Burdened with guilt, he harbours a secret about the crash that left his then-girlfriend Caroline (Noone) with both emotional and physical scars. Caroline is now married to sheep farmer Gary (Paul Ready). The couple’s son Jack (Keoghan) informs Michael that two of his prize rams have been found dead on his farm. His suspicions aroused, the sheep become the catalyst for demons of the past to rise to the surface as the two families set out on a collision course that won’t end well for either of them.
Seeing some of Ireland’s finest actors at work makes Bring Them Down an exhilarating watch. Andrews’ script provides just the right amount of tension, and when it reveals its true intentions halfway through the runtime, the story truly comes alive. Shifting perspectives in a Rashomon-like fashion, there is an overwhelming air of melancholy and sadness that permeates every frame of the film. It’s all heightened by a superbly jarring score by Hannah Peel. Set against the forlorn rural Irish landscape, the twists and turns of Andrews’ script are set with intention as the men barrel towards unhinged violence.
As the only non-Irish actor in the cast, Abbott is successful as the film’s main protagonist. The guilt of Michael’s actions, both past and present, weigh on him as much as his overbearing father, Ray. He cannot look at Caroline without the scars on her face reminding him of the pain he has caused. As the sole female of the film, Caroline is the only character who seems to understand that the only way to survive—emotionally, spiritually, physically—is to get away from the toxic men condemned to a grim existence.
Keoghan’s performance though is the highlight of the film, even if Noone is only ten years older than her on-screen son. Simultaneously calculating and naive, Jack never sees far enough down the road to know how his actions will ripple across the two families. His masculinity is fragile compared to the men around him and he feels he has something to prove. When he decides to take matters into his own hands, he sets off on a path that will condemn him to the same fate as the previous generations.
Bring Them Down is a film that doesn’t exist in binaries. There is no clear hero or villain, no commentary on who is right or who is wrong. The film shifts its focus further blurring the line to which of these two families we should root for, ultimately deciding perhaps neither. Trauma and violence exists across three generations, but Andrews carefully prevents things from going off the deep end of simple revenge. In fact, the film’s most violent moments occur out of frame, but the gory actions are carried across on the actors’ faces and bodies, their shoulders weighed down by violence inflicted on and by them. It’s a testament to Keoghan and Abbott that even amidst the violence, they both manage to find the humanity within their characters.
At times bleak, Bring Them Down will not be everyone’s cup of tea but the slow burn will reward those who are patient.
Bring Them Down held its world premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival. Get more That Shelf TIFF coverage here.
