Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Ruth Wilson | ... | Alice Bell | |
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Jonah Russell | ... | Pete |
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Paul Robertson | ... | Declan |
Sean Bean | ... | Richard Bell | |
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Una McNulty | ... | Susan Bell |
Esme Creed-Miles | ... | Young Alice | |
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Aiden McCullough | ... | Young Joe |
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Olivia Brennan | ... | Ellie |
Mark Stanley | ... | Joe Bell | |
Joe Dempsie | ... | David | |
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Mike Noble | ... | Rowan |
Steve Garti | ... | Jim | |
Dean Andrews | ... | Matty | |
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Kenton Foster | ... | Auctioneer |
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Jake Hayward | ... | Young David |
After receiving news of her father's death, Alice, a young travelling sheep-shearer, tentatively decides to return to the dilapidated family house of her childhood, in muddy North Yorkshire. Surprisingly, it's been already fifteen years since Alice left behind an ailing dad and her older brother, Joe, to wander about from farm to farm; however, this cold and heavy homecoming will be Alice's last chance to reclaim the land she believes was once promised to her. But, now, on one hand, there's Joe's resentment paired with a rancorous rivalry between siblings--while, on the other hand--fleeting mournful shadows of a troubled past permeate the walls of an imperfect prize. What will it take to keep the haunting memories at bay? Written by Nick Riganas
Ruth Wilson carries this film in devastating fashion, through the dark, cold, windy, and disorientating farmland of northern England, where sister and brother vie for tenancy of their deceased father's land. With the menace of Winter's Bone and the tragic tone of Tim Roth's War Zone, the pain of an abused - an emotional cripple trying to forge through the trauma that transcends past and present - has never been made more precipitant than in Dark River. Words ring harsh, blows and falls are felt - this is one that lives you feeling wounded. Precede at your own risk.