END OF SENTENCE | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Elfar Adalrsteins (15, 96 mins)
A touching road movie, the debut feature from Icelandic director Adalsteins, End Of Sentence examines family dynamics and grief amidst some beautiful Irish countryside. John Hawkes is excellent as the stoic father, Frank Fogle, whose son Sean (an understated Logan Lerman) is in prison as the film opens. Frank’s wife Anna, played by Andrea Irvine, is dying and she is visting her son for the last time. He can’t even make it out for her funeral, but she has a final request, a job for them to do together: to scatter her ashes in a remote lake in her native Ireland.
Lerman has no desire to spend any time with his father, whom he dislikes, distrusts and feels betrayed by. The film unravels why this is the case, family history and the complex relationships between father and sons proving paramount. Frank seems ineffectual, enduring abuse both anecdotally from his own father and from his son, but he keeps it bottled up inside. They travel to Ireland together, visiting his wife’s old haunts and discovering more about her past, whilst also meeting a hitchhiker – played by Sarah Bolger – who may not be as genuine as she seems.
A low-key, well-observed drama that takes its time with heartfelt performances, especially from Hawkes, whose amiable self-control is a world away from the psychopath in his breakout role in the excellent Winter’s Bone. A gentle, contained soul with deep hurt at his centre, he is wonderful to watch, sparking off well with the abrasive Lerman as they slowly reconnect as father and son. The film makes use of Ireland’s glorious scenery, with the Welsh national anthem heard at a ferry port. End Of Sentence is a snapshot of a relationship in crisis but imbued with a sense of hope.
Released via digital download on Mon 10 May
words KEIRON SELF