The Sparrow review β grief and guilt haunt teenager in dark West Cork tale
Ollie West is superb as a sensitive misfit who inadvertently causes a terrible tragedy in this atmospheric family drama
Beautiful West Cork is photographed like a crime scene, chilly and sinister, in this atmospheric family drama about grief and guilt, and the life-changing burden of causing a terrible tragedy. In his first acting role Ollie West is superb as Kevin, a sensitive, moody teenager with chipped black nail varnish. Kevin is constantly in trouble; heβs nothing like his army veteran dad (David OβHara), or popular big brother Robbie (Γanna Hardwicke), whose easy smile wins him the girl they both like. Kevin feels like an outsider in his family; partly the problem is that he reminds everyone of his mum, an artist who died in circumstances that make her unmentionable in their house.
The family is already bewildered by grief. Then, at around the 30-minute mark, something happens: Kevin inadvertently causes a tragedy so awful that you wonder how itβs possible to carry on. Being a teenager, with a still-developing frontal lobe, impulsive and lacking judgment, he doesnβt own up to whatβs happened, and an avalanche of consequences pile up.
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