WOW FILM FESTIVAL: THE TOLL | REVIEW
Dir: Ryan Andrew Hooper (15, 83 mins)
A neo-Western that makes brilliant use of its locations, The Toll is an enjoyable genre dark comedy thriller set in Wild West Wales: Pembrokeshire, to be precise. Michael Smiley is Toll Booth, a Northern Irishman who has settled in this farflung part of the world, running from something in his past 29 years ago. He now spends most of his time in a small portacabin, taking pennies from the occasional motorist, but that past is about to catch up with him. He’s created a local network of people who look out for him and do some of his dirty work: Iwan Rheon’s biker Dom, Paul Kaye’s dogging ambulance driver Cliff.
The film is peopled with eccentrics, and Annes Elwy’s resilient young police officer Catrin trying to maintain some sense of order. She’s seen keeping an eye on marauding triplets (all played by Gwyneth Keyworth) and helping blind pub regular Pops home, all whilst mourning her father and trying to discover who knocked him over in a hit-and-run incident. Events get murderous quickly as Toll Booth bumps into a face from his past, Gary Beadle’s Elton, and soon has his ex-boss on his way to settle an old score.
Darkly funny, The Toll’s fractured timeline zips back and forth, revealing more character details and plot developments as the story hurtles towards a real Western showdown climax. This involves local taciturn farmer Ioan Hefin and his sons, an American Elvis impersonator (Evelyn Mok) and her grunting, camouflage-wearing sidekick (Darren Evans), and crime boss Magnus, a cameo from Julian Glover. Some of the tonal shifts in Matt Redd’s script surprise, others are more awkward – the film sitting in a Twin Town-esque universe full of Welsh eccentrics. The low budget curtails and constrains the shootout climax, sometimes the quirkiness feels forced and there’s an often intrusive faux-Western soundtrack, but The Toll remains an enjoyable serving of genre-mashing Welsh eccentricity from director Ryan Andrew Hooper.
The Toll was showing as part of the 2021 edition of WOW Film Festival. Info: www.wowfilmfestival.com
words KEIRON SELF