’Aontas’ review: Irish-language crime puzzle

Dir: Damian McCann. Northern Eire, 2025. 91mins

A twisty little back-pedalling Irish-language noir, Aontas options some terrific performances from stalwarts Carrie Crowley (The Quiet Lady) and Brid Brennan (Doineann). As this heist-based narrative snakes round its personal timeline, there’s a way that director and co-writer Damian McCann (with Sarah Gordon) is amusing himself on this one-horse Irish city, executing a cinematic puzzle he has set for himself. Aontas, which implies union, isn’t any mental train, although, with Crowley and Brennan respiratory enormous life into an expletive-laden screenplay – as gaelige, so it has to borrow a few of these dangerous phrases.

Even when all of the items don’t fairly match, the enjoyable is within the recreation

Aontas comes from the identical director and funders who introduced Doineann to life – McCann with Gealan, the Irish-language drama initiative from Northern Eire’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, BBC Gaelige and the Republic’s TG4. It is going to look to an analogous viewers as Doineann (which ended up on BBC2), however might nicely entice viewers of TV exhibits Cra and the Scottish An t-Eilean as nicely. Followers of Nordic noir might nicely apply. Irish audiences ought to adore it: they’ve a historical past with Crowley and Brennan and it goes towards their kind.

Taking part in out towards a misty synth rating from Daithi O’Dronai, Aontas works backwards, taking a cue from Christopher Nolan however making use of strict style guidelines. Clearly economically budgeted and shot — apparently over a little bit greater than two weeks – within the village of Glenarm in Co Antrim, it begins on the road within the aftermath of a raid in town’s Credit score Union, with Brennan’s hard-bitten character Cait wandering dazed and bloodied on the primary avenue. As a physique is carried out of the constructing, McCann begins to work backwards.

Each temporal shift is cued by a kettle boiling or a espresso percolator dripping: the primary brings us to a automotive the place Cait meets her estranged and equally stony-faced sister Mairead (the excellent Crowley). A bruised Sheila (Eva-Jane Gaffney) seems on the scene. They take us into the financial institution raid, however solely after they’ve placed on balaclavas and brought out a gun. All of it appears to go badly awry. Then McCann cuts again and again once more. There’s a city in financial misery, two funerals, a protest on the native quarry and the city’s two dangerous guys, who had beforehand gave the impression to be harmless bystanders within the Credit score Union (Sean T. O’Meallaigh and Marcus Lamb).

A part of the enjoyment of Aontas is that it’s a cinematic train in how far you’ll be able to take a traditional narrative and get away with it. McCann’s so cheeky: he plucks on the traditional Western, chops it up and offers it out backwards, all of the whereas letting the ladies do the speaking. This can be a femme noir, even when Crowley, Brennan and Gaffney are removed from traditional noir femmes. (To say the older leads give unvarnished and dedicated performances doesn’t fairly go far sufficient: Crowley and Brennan are all-in for no make-up, nothing that might resemble a hairdo, and a wardrobe that stretches to fleeces from the charity store.)

With a bigger funds and extra beneficiant taking pictures time, McCann and DoP Damien Elliott may presumably have achieved extra with the city, the climate and the environment, the one component of noir that Aontas lacks. That is shot straight, in no-frills areas, with a heavy reliance on a transparent edit and a deal with the performances in tight close-up. Editor Sorcha Nic Giolla Mhuire tackles the temporal shifts with gusto. Crowley, Brennan and to a lesser extent Gaffney (in a smaller position) are charged with delivering Aontas and turning it into the small-scale crowdpleaser that it’s. Even when all of the items don’t fairly match, the enjoyable is within the recreation.