A group of unemployed and marginalised souls eke out a meagre living by drawing welfare and occupying a derelict squat in an apocalyptic inner city Dublin. Among the undesirables are a gay man estranged from his wife, a pimp and his prostitute, a destitute businessman, and a paranoiac. The makeshift family soon find themselves subject of intimidation from the State, along with other external forces.
Acting
Non-professional cast brings devastating authenticity.
Cinematography
Crumbling Dublin as character, not backdrop.
Direction
Black's unflinching eye never romanticizes suffering.
Director
Cathal Black
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot during the 1980s Dublin housing crisis, the film was banned from RTE for being 'too depressing'—as if poverty had an optics problem.
Director Cathal Black cast actual squatters and unemployed Dubliners; Jimmy Brennan was discovered busking, his real life mirroring his character's.
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