A 16-minute descent into paternal madness that'll make you side-eye your neighbors forever.
Vincent has recently become a father and is preparing the house for his newborn daughter's homecoming. His joy and excitement, however, turn into something darker when one of his neighbours (a sad, drunken man whose own children have recently thrown him out of the house) suggests a sordid future for both Vincent and his child. Something inside him snaps and he embarks on a psychotic mission of 'close cleansing'.
Acting
Mullan's transformation from proud dad to unhinged protector in minutes.
Direction
Mullan's debut: every frame drips with working-class anxiety.
Director
Peter Mullan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Mullan's breakthrough as an actor (Shallow Grave, Braveheart era), this announced him as Scotland's most uncompromising working-class voice.
The 'close' refers to both Glasgow tenement housing and emotional intimacy — Mullan weaponizes working-class communal living into a pressure cooker of surveillance and shame.
GB
