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The glass may be half empty but it will contain good whiskey. I write film reviews for http://www.scannain.com/ , say hi and we can debate films forever and ever and ever...... Warning this blog may contain more than just film talk.

Saturday 27 July 2013

Short Film Review - Safehouse (2013)

 Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair debuted her short film Safehouse at the Galway Film Fleadh this year. Safehouse opens in quiet, as a couple, Sean (Steve Gunn) and Lorraine (Olga Wehrly) sleep in a remote cabin. But things are not right. There are worrying blood patches on the bed and there is the glimpse of a gun. We are beginning at the aftemath of something and the feeling is that this may not end well.

The initial feeling on watching Safehouse was that the story seemed familiar: we have seen a variation on it many times before. Credit then to director and writer Ní Ghrioghair who manages to make it feel fresh. Exposition is used sparingly, the visuals tell most of the story. The leads are great with particular praise for Olga Wehrly who is superb. The cinematography by Tommy Fitzgerald is excellent giving the film a basking glow akin to a Malick film. The director proudly shows her influences as Safehouse evokes an older time for film, with echoes of the new Hollywood of the 70s (Bonny and Clyde, Badlands).


Safehouse is a fine short, beautiful to look at with a story that is in turn familiar and strange. It has the feeling of a neo noir bathed in sunlight. We do not get many of those in Ireland.

Short film reviews

 Last week I was looking through my DVR to see what needed to be deleted to make space. I was hovering at the 25% free space mark and was beginning to worry. I quickly realised that amongst my recordings I had set a series link for the shortscreen series. I flicked through and counted around 20 Irish short films that I had yet to watch.

This led me to reconsider an idea I had had a couple of years ago but dismissed at the time. I thought about it some more and decided to give it a run. I am going to do Irish short film reviews, about 150 – 250 words per film. I have never reviewed a short film before so it will be interesting. Plus the limited word count means I need to economic as it falls mid way between a tweet and a full review!


If you would like a short film reviewed you can contact me via twitter (@jaycoyle, follow me, I am great on Twitter!) or if you want you can contact me by email (cineireland@gmail.com). Please be aware that I have about 20 films to review already so if you send me one please be patient. I will get to your film as soon as I can.