Despite its nods to The Night Of The Hunter, Lance Daly clearly intended this yuletide tale of tweenage runaways to be the Irish 400 Blows. Escaping the drudgery and abuse of their Dublin sink estate, Shane Curry and Kelly O’Neill flee to the city aboard a Liffey dredger piloted by an immigrant who introduces them to Bob Dylan. A hard night on the streets ensues, with encounters feeling like episodes in a modern-day fairy tale.
Daly rather cornily adopts the Pleasantville palette, but he cannily sustains the neo-realist aura by presenting events from the perspective of his supremely naturalistic young leads.