Film

Put ‘The Commitments’ through the country and western spin-dryer and you might end up with something like ‘Small Engine Repair’: a maudlin, Americana-flecked study of male ennui among the emotionally disoriented employees of a logging camp in Northern Ireland. The film centres on slovenly singer-songwriter Doug (Ian Glen) whose crippling lack of self-esteem prevents him from performing his observational ditties on stage at his mate’s bar. Bill (Steven Mackintosh) is a local mechanic and the only one who believes in Doug’s talent.

With its spartan, bucolic trappings, this is the sort of story that could easily play out in some Southern dustbowl border town, with many of the protagonists sporting faded trucker caps, checked shirts and sucking back bottled beer. It’s an admirable first feature from writer-director Niall Heery, but one that never really says anything broader about Irish society or the shackles of fame; and the ever-present country music soundtrack does threaten to nudge the film into the realms of pastiche.