#NME 2809938 2020 The girl Matthew is totally enamoured called Jen, played by Anya Taylor-Joy.The other boys mock him but the pair soon hook up and become a couple.
The first turning point in the story takes place when the three boys witness the death of a child in a road accident. This traumatic event seems to gradually shake up the trio, and Matthew in particular, who later begins to question his dangerous friendship with Kearney.
Here are the Young Men, based on Rob Doyle's novel, was adapted and directed by Eoin Macken and was shown as part of the Galway Film Fleadh on Saturday, 11th July. The film follows Matthew, Kearney and Rez, three trouble-making young guys that have just escaped the mundane clutches of secondary school and are readying themselves for a summer of hedonism and the impending uncertainty of post-school life.
A film that feels like it wants to be complex but which is too often reduced to a simple experience by the use of over-familiar scenes, devices and plot lines. Some strong acting helps and the film is saved by swerving away from the expected laddish conclusions into a more satisfying study of the nature and perils of machismo.