Reflecting true-life events and set in a very bleak 1980s December, an Irish coal-delivery merchant, Bill, questions the dark secrets of the local convent in this quiet and sombre drama that has simmering rage at injustice at its heart. The film's gloomy mise-en-scene, melancholy soundscape and depiction of a repetitive and limited existence reflects Bill's family/internal lives very effectively, and sound design that foregrounds tiny details within near-silence is very well-handled. Cillian Murphy is the film's firm focus as he delivers another of his excellent wonderfully-considered soulful character performances as the gentle, hard-working and stoic family man, struggling to cope with the weight of his own childhood (told through well-placed flashbacks) and fearful of the world into which his young girls are growing up. The film's deliberate pace and grim feel at times makes it feel rather restrained, but it is subtly powerful, superbly made and the protagonist's growing turmoil is portrayed beautifully.
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