Film

The Disappearance of Finbar (1996)

Director: Sue Clayton

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Bored by life on a Dublin housing estate, rebellious teen Finbar Flynn (Rhys Meyers) is used to disappointing the everyone's expectations of him, but not to the extent of vanishing without trace, leaving only the unanswered question: did he jump, fall, or was he even pushed from that unfinished motorway flyover? The mystery of whether he's dead or alive haunts the community, his mum cracks up and his best friend, Danny (Griffin), can't seem to get on with living his own life. Then, one night three years later, Danny hears from Finbar, berating him about a pop video commemorating his disappearance. The call is from Stockholm, and Danny leaves on a search that will lead to the snowy wastes of Lapland. This quirky comedy-drama is hard to categorise, but extremely watchable. For one thing, Danny's odyssey involves encounters with a variety of engagingly eccentric, deftly drawn characters resulting in deadpan, off-the-wall humour reminiscent of Jarmusch or Kaurismäki. The performances are appealing, too, with Griffin's mix of innocence and indignation holding the rambling story together, and Rhys Meyers oozing cool, feckless charisma.

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