Who would have thought that an argument about sheep would lead to one of the most intense thrillers of recent times?
Bring Them Down is the tale of a feud between two farmers which takes the pettiest of conflicts and ratchets up the tension to unbearable levels, cleverly turning the revenge genre upside down.
Written and directed by Christopher Andrews, Bring Them Down is certified fresh by 90 per cent of critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
It's available now on Mubi, the cinephile streaming service packed with cult classics, international essentials and a whole slate of fascinating films from legendary directors.
The movie is set on the windswept hillsides of rural Ireland, where two neighbouring families have an uneasy truce. But a spot of light sheep rustling brings the bad blood bubbling up, and the families quickly take things too far.
Although the feud spirals into horrifying violence, this is far from a conventional revenge flick. "Thriller" probably isn't even the right word, as the layers are unpeeled to reveal something far more emotional, while thoughtfully unpicking the familiar narrative of revenge movies.
American actor Christopher Abbot plays a tormented Irish shepherd as sparse and rugged as the mountainsides where he tends his flock.
Previously seen in an eclectic range of films and TV, including Poor Things, Girls, HBO's TV adaptation of Catch-22 and the Spider-Man spin-off Kraven the Hunter, Abbott is one of the most interesting actors around.
He certainly gives a forceful performance here as a quiet man with deep, dark emotions roiling beneath the surface.
Abbott is matched against Barry Keoghan, back on his Irish home turf again after Oscar and Bafta nominations for The Banshees of Inisherin.
Following the provocative Saltburn and soon to be playing Ringo Starr in Danny Boyle's series of Beatles biopics, Keoghan here plays a relatively low-key role as a farm boy spoiling for a fight. But things aren't what they seem, and Keoghan does a great job at portraying both volatility and vulnerability.
Bring Them Down is a simmering twist on the revenge story, going to dark places in its exploration of where violence takes you. Quietly devastating, it's well worth a watch.
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