Two new films shed light on the vagaries of modern Irish life.
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Perennial Light
Directed by Colin Hickey. 2024. Runtime 82 minutes.
Perennial Light is an ambitious work by filmmaker Colin Hickey, expansive in intent and minimalist in execution. Think The Tree of Life as a series of black and white stills, punctuated by pencil sketches.
Set along the Irish coast, the plot, such as it is, follows a young fisherman’s journey from childhood to adulthood, haunted by a mortal tragedy. But for Perennial Light, a plot is beside the point. The point is the images: a string of them, glowing, austere, barely moving, depicting snatches of memory that take to the skies in meditative drone shots.
This journey is nearly silent, with a simple score compiled by Juliet Martin that runs like water under it. This reductive approach makes for a montage that’s languid yet stirring. It’s a unique, somewhat lulling way to spend 90 minutes.
Mr. Hickey has been making shorts; this is his first feature. He uses nonprofessional talent in Perennial Light and assumes a part himself. He doesn’t ask much of the actors, sometimes just to stand still while the camera lingers on every detail.
These shots are intermittently dotted with childlike drawings and flipbook-style animations depicting babies, stars, and the cosmos. These illustrations are by Paolo Chianta, who shares auteur credit with Mr. Hickey, who is credited as “Writer/Camera/Editor.”
Happy mention goes to his large cast, which includes Finn O’Donovan, Clara Rose Hickey, Muriel Pitton, Jack Mahoney, and Ciara Hickey, among many others.
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The Spin
Directed by Michael Head. 2025. Runtime 92 minutes.
The Spin provides what’s absent from Perennial Light: color and comedy.
Two slackers, Dermot (Brenock O’Connor) and Elvis (Owen Colgan), own Boneyard Records, a struggling vinyl shop in Omagh, Northern Ireland. Rent’s due, child support’s due, and their best bet is a road trip across the length of Ireland to procure a cache of rare records. Mix High Fidelity and Coogan/Brydon’s The Trip, and you get the idea.
It’s a simple setup that pays off well. The duo has a goofy charm, as well as eccentric peripheral characters, like an overbearing landlady (Derry Girls’ Tara Lynne O’Neill) whose abuse Dermot finds oddly arousing. Quirky and breezy, the Irish way of puttin’ things is in evidence: Dermot says of a cohort, “Look into his eyes and tell me Dave hasn’t murdered someone.” Elvis debates his ex-wife over whether she threatened to “slaughter him like sheep” or “slaughter him in his sleep” (“Sorry, I misheard,” he says, splitting hairs). One episode has their backseat occupied by a man with a taxidermized dog, a stripper, and a nun.
Michael Head writes/directs/acts in films including Bermondsey Tales, Meeting Across the River, A Gangster's Kiss, The Gift, and the upcoming feature Jackie the Stripper.