What Richard Did

Frankie Lee

Lenny Abrahamson's new film which according to IMDb has been completed. Does anyone know of when it is likely to be released.
It is loosely based on the novel "Bad Day at Blackrock" which is an excellent read and I have high hopes for this film given the people involved.

johnny_ultimate

Perhaps a chance it will premiere in Galway?

I heard Abrahamson talk about it briefly a few months ago and it looks like an interesting project. Potentially similar to Kirsten Sheridan's Dollhouse in a few ways (not least the main actor) but it seems like it could be a nicely understated, offbeat little drama.

Miguel_Sanchez

Trailer is up on the RTE website: http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/0831/whatricharddid.html

johnny_ultimate

Premiere is in the IFI on the 30th of September.

It is already sold out

Arcee

RTE trailer a bit grainy and crap. There's a better quality one on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXTcSCp8R6E

Miguel_Sanchez

Arcee wrote: »

RTE trailer a bit grainy and crap. There's a better quality one on YouTube.

For some reason RTE were given a 1 day exclusive on the trailer it seems. Dunno why.

Will keep this short as I'm on my phone but just put of a screening of What Richard Did and I have to say that I was very impressed by it. It's one of the most interesting Irish films to come along in many years.

Loosely based on true events the film follows Richard, an 18 year old middle class Rugby star who has his whole life planned out. During one idyllic summer he and a group of friends are involved in an incident which changes their lives forever. It's a low key morality tale that does a lot with very little.

While he story may be familiar the execution is not. There's a subtlety to way that Abrahamson tells the story that makes it rather unique. The post event scenes are handled with a compassion and restraint that creates real tension. There's no scenes following the police investigation or cliched night time meet ups where the huddled friends discuss turning themselves in. Instead the focus is almost solely on Richard and follows him through the various stages of anger, guilt and depression as he attempts to reconcile what he has done. At the same time Richard's father faces equally complex moral questions as he attempts to make sense of what his son has done.

The film is one of those rare breed than can say a lot more with silence than a dozen lines of dialogue. The last third of the film is the most challenging and interesting. The lack of dialogue and reliance on visuals may make it hard work for some and the open ended final scene is something that a lot will have issue with even if it does offer up some very interesting questions. The film isn't perfect and does feel a little like a short film stretched out to 90 minutes and as such drags in places but overall Abramhson has delivered one of the better Irish films in a long time.

Hopefully the film will find an audience as it's far more deserving of critical and commercial acclaim than crap such as The Guard. Sadly I fear that when it opens in cinemas on Friday most people will opt instead to see Taken 2 or The campaign.

JP Liz V1

Is it getting a general release here?

JP Liz V1

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is it getting a general release here?

Far as I know it is.

losthorizon

Its coming to Dungarvan on Friday and is being shown three times a night for the whole week at least. It looks intense. Another good irish film on the scene after grabbers.

losthorizon

Is this based on a true story?

johnny_ultimate

Inspired by a true story, but heavily fictionalised.

jonsnow

Coincidentally I read "Bad day in Blackrock" a few weeks ago and was blown away by it.It is the only book I have ever read which felt like it talked about my generation of people-I was the same age as the characters at the time of the crucial incident.Even though I am not from dublin and did not go to a fee paying school I felt that there was a lot that I could relate to in relation to Irish middle class culture(although I obviously couldnt relate to some aspects).What was so fantastic about the novel was how subtle it was and how it so brilliantly damned the cynicism and hypocrisy at the heart of irish society while still humanising the characters.The language was also quite beautiful and precise.I honestly could not recommend this book highly enough.

I am sure that the film will be fantastic as well given the director and how subtle and "still" his movies can be.Really looking forward to it.

jonsnow

jonsnow wrote: »

Coincidentally I read "Bad day in Blackrock" a few weeks ago and was blown away by it.It is the only book I have ever read which felt like it talked about my generation of people-I was the same age as the characters at the time of the crucial incident.Even though I am not from dublin and did not go to a fee paying school I felt that there was a lot that I could relate to in relation to Irish middle class culture(although I obviously couldnt relate to some aspects).What was so fantastic about the novel was how subtle it was and how it so brilliantly damned the cynicism and hypocrisy at the heart of irish society while still humanising the characters.The language was also quite beautiful and precise.I honestly could not recommend this book highly enough.

I am sure that the film will be fantastic as well given the director and how subtle and "still" his movies can be.Really looking forward to it.

I am and I did and the film looks absolutely cringworthy and ott from the trailer so i will not watch if for that reason. Its an odd feeling actually, one I have never felt towards a film. Hope it does well anyway.

grizzly

Saw this tonight, but left a little disappointed. I felt that too many of the characters were underdeveloped (

the girlfriend – would have been good to get an insight on her perspective/his friend – more dialogue on his splitting away would have been nice

) Also the music was poorly chosen – taken me out of the drama instead of drawing me in.

On the plus side the acting was mostly strong and the direction did much to produce and believable and tense atmosphere.

AnonoBoy

Maliah Loose Volt wrote: »

I am and I did and the film looks absolutely cringworthy and ott from the trailer so i will not watch if for that reason.

Have you seen any of Abrahamson's other films?

He doesn't really do OTT at all. Subtle, slow and quiet are more his style.

johnny_ultimate

grizzly wrote: »

I felt that too many of the characters were underdeveloped (

the girlfriend – would have been good to get an insight on her perspective/his friend – more dialogue on his splitting away would have been nice

) Also the music was poorly chosen – taken me out of the drama instead of drawing me in.

While I agree on the music being misjudged, I would counter your first point somewhat by suggesting that since the entire film is basically Richard's POV (pretty sure he's in every single scene of the film?) it's semi-forgivable that we only catch glimpses or small character moments from others. It's his story, and everyone else is a supporting character, especially given the narrow yet confused focus of his mindset in the second half particularly.

I really liked the film. A very well-realised and smart character study. I admired Garage's style and intentions more than I liked the film itself (which left me a bit cold), but this I found it much easier to relate to given the settings and characters are the type I'd be much more familiar with. The dynamics between Richard and all his friends and family were compelling throughout, and everything about the film felt real and natural. Abrahamson nails the tone and pace, and his understated style ensures Richard's story is handled with subtlety and care. Reynor has much more to work with here than he does in Dollhouse (although that film was purposefully loosely written) and he impresses - Richard is a great protagonist, and both the actor and director do a great job making him a sympathetic, relatable figure even when he makes his big mistake. Overall a subtle, intelligent character study - although one that plays out on a grander and contemporary social scale - and certainly my favourite of Abrahmson's three films so far.

gmisk

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

While I agree on the music being misjudged, I would counter your first point somewhat by suggesting that since the entire film is basically Richard's POV (pretty sure he's in every single scene of the film?) it's semi-forgivable that we only catch glimpses or small character moments from others. It's his story, and everyone else is a supporting character, especially given the narrow yet confused focus of his mindset in the second half particularly.

I really liked the film. A very well-realised and smart character study. I admired Garage's style and intentions more than I liked the film itself (which left me a bit cold), but this I found it much easier to relate to given the settings and characters are the type I'd be much more familiar with. The dynamics between Richard and all his friends and family were compelling throughout, and everything about the film felt real and natural. Abrahamson nails the tone and pace, and his understated style ensures Richard's story is handled with subtlety and care. Reynor has much more to work with here than he does in Dollhouse (although that film was purposefully loosely written) and he impresses - Richard is a great protagonist, and both the actor and director do a great job making him a sympathetic, relatable figure even when he makes his big mistake. Overall a subtle, intelligent character study - although one that plays out on a grander and contemporary social scale - and certainly my favourite of Abrahmson's three films so far.

Totally spot on...agree with this entirely

gmisk

Also on an unrelated note........the main character looks kind of like a young slim Seth Rogen......

Banjaxed82

On another unrelated note....is Poolbeg the only isolated area in Dublin that location managers can get? How many appearances has that place made in films now? I only saw it in Shadow Dancer last month.

Really liked the film anyway.

jackal

Saw this last night after hearing some gushing reviews on the radio.

It starts well, a little ponderous, but as others have said the film captures the whole SCD thing very very well. Unfortunately, thats about as good as it gets. The whole film takes place from Richards point of view, and does not explore any of the really interesting parts of the story from a legal or societal point of view, instead focusing on this teenager, who, like most teens, does not have a whole lot to say for himself. Indeed the dialogue, which is sparse at the beginning, dies out completely towards the latter part of the film. Some have said they like this approach, but it seemed to me to be saying little, with less.

I really liked Adam and Paul, and Garage, and had high hopes for this one. After sitting though a largely silent, very uneventful and shallow examination that got some things right but felt like one long missed opportunity I was not very impressed.

The acting was pretty good all round and the lead was excellent. He certainly got enough screen time, as the director seemed to love showing his face when he wakes up, his face when he eats breakfast, his face when he sits on the couch... etc. I would estimate a good quarter of the film comprises close ups of Richards face.

The ending, I quite liked but 90% of the people sat in their seats expecting it to come back as the credits were rolling and say what really happened. "Is that the end... WTF?" was heard. One of the people I talked to thought the opposite had happened than what I understood to have happened. Im all for leaving people guessing but it was not clear and seemed to have left a lot of the audience scratching their heads... not in a good way.

I think when the reviews are in we will see the usual. An Irish film which is not awful will get 5 stars from every Irish critic, as they forgive its flaws due to the fact its Irish and is not a train wreck. Overseas it will not be given such an easy ride and the lack of dialogue, drama and depth will not be excused based on what the director has done in the past or how accurately he portrays a small section of Irish society.

Would not recommend this as a cinema film. I will get it again on DVD to see if its as boring in parts as I remember, but my companions all found the same thing. It had its good parts, but not enough of them.

Irish Aris

I, on the other hand, found the open ending absolutely spot on. I don't think it really matters what really happened after that. His life as he knew it is over.
Not being Irish, I am not familiar at all with the real events in which the film is loosely based.
I found this an excellent character study, seeing the whole film through Richard's eyes. The perfect life he has before the incident and how, after that, he kind of drifts away from everybody around him. . .and to some extend from himself.
It made me think how just one second of out of character rage can destroy your whole life.
The scene in the beach house where he has the "crisis". . .I found it shocking and disturbing at the same time.
And I think that Jack Reynor is a brilliant choice for the leading role of Richard.

Highly recommended if you don't mind it being a slow burner. For me, one of the best films I've seen so far this year.

johnny_ultimate

Actually think it would have ruined the film if they went into any legal or more thrillery aspects of the case. The film's core concern isn't really the incident itself - it's more Richard's mindset before, during and after that it tries to encapsulate. That scene where he's listening to the radio is just heartbreaking, because we know he's ultimately a decent guy who just made a ****ing stupid split-second decision. That scene is more effective than any amount of protracted court or whodunnit type scenes would be. Similarly,

the scene after he's had grim, impulsive sex with the younger girl, or his Garda interview

. Expressions and what's not said are what lends these scenes their power.

If there's one great strength of the film it's that it very rarely explicitly states what's going in the protagonist's head, and in that sense it has great trust for the audience. That's why the ending IMO is beautifully realised.

Richard's life will go on in seemingly normal way, but his guilt and anguish is only going to gnaw away at him, especially if - as is suggested - he gets away with it. There's the somewhat optimistic suggestion that he will likely succeed (he's clearly entirely committed to university), but at the same time the events of the film have irrevocably changed a teenager who started off with barely a care in the world

. That to me was a very satisfying journey to experience.

Getting bogged down in the legal aspect of the investigation or delving deeper into the mindset of the group of friends would only have made the film generic and underwhelming. The films greatest strength is how the focus is almost entirely on Richard, the scenes with his father are the only moments in the film where we see how another is grappling with the moral dilemma of the events of the night.

A lot of people seem to be of the mind that the ending

is him escaping any legal ramifications of his actions but instead spending his life being eaten away by the guilt. A more interesting reading of it could be that Richard has gotten over it and once the threat of being found out are gone he's okay with what he did and is just going to get on with his life as normal.

On an unrelated note. After the screening of What Richard Did there was a public Q and A with Abramson and by God but people really need to think before they open their mouths. Questions ranged from "I noticed in the credits that one of the girls was called Gleeson, is she a sister to Brendan?" to statements such as "I loved the film, it's an important film that everyone should see but the cinema going public are too stupid to go see it" Still nowhere near as bad as the time I sat in a public Q and A with David Lynch and one of the first questions was, "what is your favorite film of yours?" followed by this gem "What was it like going from working on films such as Eraserhead to films like Dune and Scanners?"

Kooli

Saw this last night and absolutely loved it.
There were quite a few moments in it when I glimpsed what could have happened in the hands of a less competent director - I'd be imagining something was about to happen (because any other generic film would have had it happen), and when it didn't I just felt utter relief that this movie was so unique and understated.
The performances were absolutely outstanding, the relationships utterly authentic and the ending was perfect.

As someone who grew up in that kind of 'scene', I absolutely cringed with how spot-on the portrayal of the privileged teenagers was!!

Grudaire

I saw it last night. Thought it was really well done. I even liked the ending of it - subtly making the point that he never handed himself in - regardless of what else happened.

I do hope that it does well, it's been a long time that I've sat in a Cinema with such a style of film where the whole crowd were captivated for the whole time.

Miguel_Sanchez

It's doing ok at the box office but not great. Hopefully that'll change.

57,000 euro which sounds decent but it is showing on 21 screens around the country.

http://www.thisisirishfilm.ie/box_offices/144

It's taken in more than Perks of Being a Wallflower this week though and on less screens.

livinsane

I saw this last night. Really liked it, mainly because of the fantastic lead actor. For me, it was a film about

emotions, showing his change from a carefree guy to a jealous partner. That dark tunnel-vision envy was shown in a few scenes leading up to the house party. The funeral scene was marvelous as was the scene in the boathouse when he breaks down. I liked the ending, it would have been less satisfying if they had wrapped it up.

Loved how accurately the mannerisms of the teenagers were portrayed without being cartoonish or contrived. Really great cast.

Sad Professor

I thought this was superb. I'm fairly ignorant of D4 culture, but the film does seem to accurately capture it. However, thankfully Abrahamson avoids turning the film into some boring social and economic commentary. It's really just about a very privileged, well rounded, decent and (deservedly) popular bloke who in a moment of rage does something which he will have to live with for the rest of his life. The brilliance of the film is the way Abrahamson puts you in his shoes. I found the ending quite affecting.

Birneybau

I saw this last night, thought it was a good, well acted film.

My issue however, is the amount of people here calling Richard a "decent" guy.

An alpha male, he takes 2 friend's girls from them, walks over while Connor (the guy that he kills) is in tears talking to Lara, hangs around in a bit of an intimidating way, big man sh!t. And, from my taking of it, he lets the gatecrashers of the party (non-D4 lads) take the wrap.

My 2 cents.

Sad Professor

I didn't think his behaviour with Connor was intimating. He was tactless (not unusual for someone that age), but was just trying to resolve things happily so that he could have Lara to himself. The possessiveness with which he treats her is fairly typical young male behaviour and not something I'd hold against him. As for the ending, it's really left up in the air.

I kinda agree that he probably doesn't give himself in, but that's after the fact.

Up to that point he seemed like a fairly decent guy, albeit over-confident.

johnny_ultimate

I think Abrahamson and Reynor do an excellent job at making Richard a likeable character. Apart from his relationship with Lara - which, from their first meeting, is clearly a mutual attraction that's inevitably going to go somewhere - there's very few sequences in the opening half that illustrate him as anything other than a friendly, considerate person. Indeed, he acts as a loyal 'big brother' figure to at least two younger characters, and enjoys a happy family and social life. He's well liked, and the evidence suggests it's with good cause. Apart from his troublesome love triangle and his growing (albeit not entirely unwarranted) jealousy - which are character 'flaws' you'd find in many, many adolescents - he's clearly a character who wants to do right. It's only after (and during) the 'incident' that he makes some stupid mistakes he would never have made previously. Like the best protagonists, he's a flawed individual. But the stellar work the director and actor do to get us on his side make subsequent events genuinely heartbreaking and affecting.

deisebhoy17

left feeling very frustrated at the ending. Overall was very slow moving and at times found myself asking where is this actually going.

The idea was there but the execution wasnt imo.

Wasnt for me

Neeson

jackal wrote: »

The ending, I quite liked but 90% of the people sat in their seats expecting it to come back as the credits were rolling and say what really happened.

Same thing happened when I saw it!

lc180

I didn't have high expectations of this film so I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I can see it doing well at the IFTA's next year, you make what you want of that!

One gripe I had was when I was leaving the cinema, a D4 type girl behind me on the stairs said to her mate "OMG loike thats was amazeballs, kind of loike a real tale of our generation". Jaysus....

Neeson

lc180 wrote: »

One gripe I had was when I was leaving the cinema, a D4 type girl behind me on the stairs said to her mate "OMG loike thats was amazeballs, kind of loike a real tale of our generation". Jaysus....

Maybe she was taking the piss. A gripe I had is the lead character saying "noice" about 3 times in the first few scenes.

In all fairness I don't think people around here say that.

Miguel_Sanchez

Neeson wrote: »

Maybe she was taking the piss. A gripe I had is the lead character saying "noice" about 3 times in the first few scenes.

In all fairness I don't think people around here say that.

I don't know about that. I've been on the 46a a good bit recently and that's a pretty common word for kids to use.

And given that Reynor himself is from that sort of background I think Abrahamson wouldn't have forced him to speak in anyway that felt unnatural.

Much as I hate the word and wis people would either pronounce it properly or not at all it is fairly common to hear during certain buses journeys in Dublin. When it came to writing the dialogue Abramson and his writer cast the film a whole year before shooting started and used the time to get to know the kids and how they spoke. He said that if any line in the script seemed fake or the kids told him they'd never use that word it was rewritten.

Neeson

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

I don't know about that. I've been on the 46a a good bit recently and that's a pretty common word for kids to use.

And given that Reynor himself is from that sort of background I think Abrahamson wouldn't have forced him to speak in anyway that felt unnatural.

I would myself every week but I just thought the "noice" thing was exaggerated. As soon as I heard it I just turned to the person beside me. I'd be hearing them saying the "likes" and all. "Man" was also frequently used, but I thought it was used a bit much.

johnny_ultimate

I'd actually commend how well the director and actors handled the dialogue - came across as naturalistic and believable IMO. When dealing with D4 accents and slang, there's a tendency to veer into Ross O'Carroll Kelly style exaggeration. But that exaggeration is heavily based on the way people from the area speak, and this film did a great job capturing the mannerisms without descending into the parody of ROK or any number of other satirists.

If it's annoying, well that's because the way privileged Blackrock teenagers talk can be annoying. I genuinely was never distracted by the way characters spoke or interacted with each other though.

When I originally heard that it was going to a protagonist and his bunch of friends from D4, my worry was that it was going to focus on that and descend into some Ross O'Carroll Kelly style farce, which would have completely alienated me and a lot of other people too, I would imagine.

Instead what we are given is normal teenagers; they go out, they party, knacker drink, fall in love and have sex. This is where it massively worked, I think. The cast were all natural (you could tell for the most part that barely any of them were actors) and there was a lot of a lot of genuinely touching and harrowing moments.

I found it interesting how the first half of the movie was portraying Richard as a good guy - he was someone that people wanted to introduce their friends to, someone that they were all proud of - who just happened to make an incredibly bad choice in the heat of the moment, instead of someone vile and despicable, like other movies might do. The incident was vile and despicable yes, but the person that did it was not.

It was one of the few movies in recent memory that I felt a pang of anguish in my chest - you genuinely felt what the character was feeling. It's hard to believe that this was one of Jack Reynor's first movies, because he was so good in it. His performance was quite understated,

making his breakdowns, like the one in the summer home that bit more harrowing

.

Really hope he gets more leading roles.

e_e

I wasn't as enamored with this as some others here, but it's very pleasing to see an intelligent, contemplative and ambiguous Irish drama do so well at the box office.

Barna77

Saw it a few weeks ago, i relly liked it, though at the same time it felt there was something missing there. The scene in the beach house

when he breaks down.... been there, felt the pain myself... well done

And it was good to see Michelle Doherty

blue note

I saw this last night and thought it was great. I get what people are saying about it missing an opportunity to go into more, but I was content that the film was about Richard and it didn't bother me that we didn't see too much more of the father / girlfriend or anyone else.

I do think that the film dipped a bit shortly after the actual incident. The tension of knowing what was going to happen really grabbed me from the outset.

I'm living in a rugby area of Dublin (feckin' Leinster flags everywhere), and I think it's very true to life. The teenagers could have been my neighbours.

And finally, I wouldn't agree with most people's views on Richard before the incident. While I thought Richard played the part he was meant to, I got the impression that he didn't fully enjoy being the perfect son / friend and the pressure of maintaining that. He struck me as someone who wasn't fully content and who also had an unhealthy sense of entitlement which certainly focused on the girlfriend, gave rise to jealousy of the former boyfriend and ultimately resulted in his death.

And just to stress, while I am saying that Richard was far from a perfect teen, he was probably as close as any to perfect and still was very "normal". The film certainly did show how something dreadful can almost just happen. These fights are common and almost innocent, even though something like this can happen.

Fysh

I saw this tonight as part of an Irish film festival, with a Q&A afterwards with the screenwriter.

overall I thought it was good - very much from Richard's POV, which might explain to some extent why most of the other characters except Richard's Dad aren't really fleshed out beyond what you see in the first five minutes of them. I thought Reynor did a good job in his role.

I have to disagree with everyone saying that Richard was fundamentally decent, though - as far as I could tell, the character's a great big purple bellend! He

has crap discipline (can't stick to his training regimen of not drinking or smoking), he actively pursues girls he knows to be involved with his friends, his only instinct after he discovers that he's killed someone through being an alpha-male bellend is to figure out whether he can get away with admitting it, and he doesn't even learn from his mistakes!

To find him likeable and sympathetic after all that requires a much greater, perhaps Buddha-like, love for all mankind than I can muster - I didn't see anything that elevated him beyond being a privileged upper-middle-class twat. An interesting character, certainly, but not one I empathised with or liked.

interestingly in the Q&A the point was made by the screenwriter that he had tried not to judge his characters, which I found fascinating. Knowing that the characters are mostly obnoxious airheads and that the screenwriter had worked on Skins before, I can't help wonder if the screenwriter and director were pulling in different drections.

All in all, I thought it was good but not great. I wouldn't bother watching it again as I don't think the script is likely to reward repeat viewings, though, and I certainly don't think it's as good as either Adam and Paul or Kisses, which I saw at the same festival a few years ago.

Edited to add:

One thing that occurs to me about the different reactions to Richard's action; Irish drinking culture in particular promotes a particular type of abdication of responsibility that I find vile (it's one thing that I don't miss about Ireland since moving to London), and given the circumstances in the film I wonder if that plays into it at all.

On a separate note, knowing that the screenwriter also worked on Skins has me wondering how much Richard is based on Tony - the two have plenty in common after all...

tennessee time

found the film cringe-worthy at times, i can't believe people like this actually exist and they are not a section of irish society i have encountered.

kraggy

I moving home in March. Any chance this will be out on Dvd by then? Dying to see it. Love Abrahamson's previous works.

johnny_ultimate

kraggy wrote: »

I moving home in March. Any chance this will be out on Dvd by then? Dying to see it. Love Abrahamson's previous works.

Yeah should be. Element handle the Irish distribution and they're good for prompt local DVD releases. The film's only coming out in UK cinemas now, though, so you'll probably have to source it from Irish retailers as the UK DVD will probably be a little later.

kraggy

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Yeah should be. Element handle the Irish distribution and they're good for prompt local DVD releases. The film's only coming out in UK cinemas now, though, so you'll probably have to source it from Irish retailers as the UK DVD will probably be a little later.

Thanks.

Corholio

Saw it the other night and was disappointed with it. There's something strange about it that I can't put my finger on, but the best way I can describe it is that the dialogue's sound is turned up too high, it bothered me throughout the film, sounds weird I know just found it unusual. The film itself, I didn't think was all that great. I think there's a lot of quietness and isolated moments that try to make certain scenes more profound, but doesn't add anything to it really. Reynor was decent but I wouldn't be eager to see him in something else or anything. The story you can twig from early on and it's a bit predictable throughout, especially the

copping off with the young girl scene

A so so film.

rob316

Remember seen this in the cinema. Very good acting but man what a boring boring film. The plot just couldn't warrant a movie I felt. Me and my OH genuinely wanted to walk out and ive seen some crap down the years.

Its weird everyone raves about it. Surely we are not the only ones who hated it?