Get ready for Bring Them Down, the recently publicized Irish drama featuring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott. Directed by Christopher Andrews, this hardened film probes into family disputes and hard country living. It's a knockout that premiered at TIFF on September 8, 2024.
The movie explores an intense rivalry between two sheep-farming families. With old grudges and fresh doubts, it follows a full-on turf war. Keoghan and Abbott hold it together with their performances, showing two men stuck because of their pasts and what life has thrown at them.
The Hollywood Reporter called Bring Them Down "relentlessly bleak" and with good cause. This film explores the dark underbelly of rural life to make for some tense and sometimes pretty harsh viewing. With Irish scenery and a hooking plot, it is a bruising yet mesmerizing look at family, violence, and survival.
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Bring Them Down release date and premiere
Bring Them Down had its world premiere in Canada on September 8, 2024, as it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. Stateside audiences will experience it next, as it will appear at Fantastic Fest in Texas on September 20, 2024: a huge opportunity for genre films. Those in the UK will get to see it at the BFI London Film Festival on October 18, 2024.
These festival screenings give us a sneak peek of the film, but we still don’t know when it will be released in theaters or on streaming services.
Bring Them Down cast and performances
The cast has Oscar-nominated Barry Keoghan as Jack, and Christopher Abbott plays Michael. Colm Meaney plays Michael's dad, Ray, and Nora-Jane Noone stars as Caroline, Michael's ex-girlfriend. She's now with her husband, Gary, who Paul Ready plays.
The Hollywood Reporter says Keoghan and Abbott's performances are "compelling." Keoghan nails crisis and vulnerability, while Abbott commits fully to his role, even using Gaelic in a few scenes. The chemistry among the whole cast helps the film with its family loyalty, guilt, and violence themes.
Bring Them Down plot summary and themes
It follows the story of two farming families in rural Ireland who can't stand each other. Michael is wracked with guilt over a car accident that claimed his mom's life and has to deal with his hardened dad, Ray.
Matters get worse when his two sheep show up dead on his neighbor and rival Gary's property, starting a heated battle. To make matters worse, Michael shares history with Gary's wife, Caroline.
Bring Them Down also deals with toxic masculinity, family trauma, and hard rural life. And it does not spare the violence, as "blood-soaked" is how Variety characterizes the whole story.
Is there a trailer for Bring Them Down?
Although the full trailer is unavailable, some shots from TIFF have given fans a taste of its dark visuals. Against the stunning yet lonely backdrop of rural Ireland, Nick Cooke's cinematography brings out the stark, isolated lives of the characters.
The score by Hannah Peel enhances this bleakness with so much tension and emotion in the story. Critics have praised its raw energy, with Variety hailing "a brutal directorial debut" that balances dry humor with a heavy dose of sadness.
Since it’s receiving so much praise at TIFF, Bring Them Down will likely be released on Apple TV+ before the end of 2024.
