Irish actor Eva Birthistle has given successful performances in Ken Loach’s Ae Fond Kiss, Peter Greenaway’s Nightwatching, and David Keating’s Wake Wood. Now she pivots to directing, with this interesting and worthwhile debut feature, developed from her earlier 10-minute short from 2020, entitled Kathleen Was Here, about a vulnerable adult who was once in care, returning to her childhood home after the death of a mother who still haunts her thoughts.
Birthistle extends the mood-music of this earlier piece, repurposing the memory-flashback moments, hanging it on a psychological drama-thriller plot about a disturbing cuckoo-in-the-nest, complete with an almost Joe Eszterhas-level nailbiter ending. The plot machinations required to facilitate this are maybe a bit contrived, but it hangs together, and Birthistle directs the actors strongly and sympathetically.
