A park bench conversation that ends in suicide — but why?
Catherine goes to a local park to meet up with a school friend. The friend is not there, and Catherine spends the morning looking for her, with the help of the elderly park-keeper to whose stories she listens all the while. Several years later, Catherine is found hanging from a window in her home.
Acting
Des Nealon's park-keeper monologues feel stolen from real life.
Direction
Carney and Hall make 88 minutes feel like one long held breath.
Director
Tom Hall
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was John Carney's directorial debut, made for roughly €10,000 before he became the king of musical romances with Once and Begin Again.
The film's structure — revealing Catherine's fate upfront — was deeply unfashionable in 1990s indie cinema, making it a quiet ancestor to films like Manchester by the Sea.
IE
