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‘Christy’ Review: Brothers Estranged by the Care System Rebuild Their Bond in a Moving Irish Crowdpleaser
A Berlin prizewinner, Brendan Canty's straightforward but emotionally punchy debut 'Christy' continues its successful festival run in Karlovy Vary.
Following a sullen teenage casualty of the Irish social care system as he’s reunited with his similarly damaged half-brother, slowly regaining a feeling of purpose and belonging in the world, Brendan Canty ‘s debut feature is satisfyingly expanded from his 2019 short of the same title. Ultimately sunny and often ebullient — down to a communal hip-hop number at its close — this is an honest crowdpleaser that nonetheless works hard for its emotional uplift, comparable in theme and appeal to recent Irish Oscar nominee “The Quiet Girl,” albeit with scrappier execution. Canty, previously a music video director who landed an MTV VMA nomination for Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” clip, is an unextravagant but subtly assured visual stylist attuned to flashes of organic beauty amid textures of tarmac and pebble-dash, while DP Colm Hogan’s camera is most interested in the planes and furrows of faces that have lived a lot in relatively few years.
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