Anton (2008)

Director:

Graham Cantwell

Writer:

Anthony Fox (writer)

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (Ireland)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

When Anton O'Neill returns home after five years at sea, he finds that 1970's Ireland is a radically different place to the one he left behind...

Plot Keywords:

Irish | Irish Cop | 1972 | IRA | Based On True Story

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Gerard McSorley	...	Detective Lynch
Anthony Fox	...	Anton
Laura Way	...	Maria
Andy Smith	...	Brendan
Cillian Roche	...	Edward
Vincent Fegan	...	Diarmuid
Sean Stewart	...	Steven
Griet van Damme	...	Sophie
Ronan Wilmot	...	Johnny
Rachel Rath	...	Detective Byrne
Richard Wall	...	Detective Thornton
Rory Mullen	...	Detective Flynn
Patrick Clarke	...	Barrister Macken
Seamus Hughes	...	Tonto (as Seamus O'Haodha)
Lenny Hayden	...	Chief Prison Officer Swafford

Also Known As:

Trapped (International: English title)

Runtime:

Ireland:95 min

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color (hd) | Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Ireland:16

Filming Locations:

Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK

Company:

Fox Glove Films

Trivia:

Irvine Welsh has a non-speaking cameo role.

Soundtrack:

One

Apologies to those involved, but...

Whilst credit must go to the filmmakers for actually getting Anton produced, sadly they have not done themselves any real favours by putting this story up on the big screen.

Whilst there are certainly moments in the film which work, overall it is simply a mess. Watching it, I wondered at times whether this was in fact an experimental avant-garde piece masquerading as a mainstream thriller. That seemed to be the only possible explanation for the missing plot points, lack of character motivation and general incoherence of the film. However, in truth, this is nothing more than a collection of scenes in search of a script review.

To give an example: at a mid-point in the film Anton escapes from prison. In the next scene he enters what seems to be an abandoned warehouse and takes a gun from a toilet cistern before being confronted and chased by two police officers. We have never seen this location before. It is not explained why there is a gun in the cistern or how Anton knew it was there. We do not know how the police tracked him to this location. We are simply asked to accept that this is so and move on. Apparently the film is based on the writer's own experience, so perhaps he knows the answers to these questions, but a simple review by an experienced script editor would have pointed out that its quite important for the audience to know these things too.

In short, there are suggestions that the filmmakers could do better work in the future, but as an overall piece of work this film is seriously flawed.