Directed by – Philip John
Starring – Jack Parry – Jones, Christy O’Donnell, Tara Lee.
It’s always great to see young talented actors and actresses get their chance to shine and in Moon Dogs you really get that with these three leads. You can see these stars having a strong career.
Teenage step-brothers Michael (Jack Parry – Jones) and Thor (Christy O’Donnell) go on a journey between Shetland to Glasgow for different, personal reasons. Aspiring Irish singer Caitlin (Tara Lee) beguiles both boys and passion come to a head with a music festival and an ancient Norse ceremony as the backdrop.
 |
| IMAGE VIA ROBERT PEREIRA HIND/ AMBER CONTENT |
This well shot and directed low-budget UK indie is a charming, funny coming-of-age drama comedy that I could see people connect to some of these characters. When I say low-budget, you can see it and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was made for under £100k, but it doesn’t stop from being a good film.
The reason why is because of the three leads, who have to work off some pretty clichéd coming-of-age movie elements, but these guys and girl do such a cracking job it becomes a better movie.
There’s one ever been one character I connected to and that was Domhnall Gleeson as Tim in Richard Curtis’ About Time. I can now add Parry-Jones’ Michael, who over thinks, over talks and is quite frankly uptight. He thinks before ever doing and his personality is very similar to himself and it's sort of weird to see.
 |
| IMAGE VIA ANNE BINKEBANCK/ AMBER CONTENT |
Meanwhile, Thor’s story is very touching and heartfelt and I could’ve happily watched a film simply about his journey and O’Donnell comes close to stealing the whole film.
 |
| IMAGE VIA NEIL DAVIDSON/ AMBER CONTENT |
Furthermore, when it comes to Caitlin played by Lee she’s obviously used as a reason for Thor and especially Michael to live life. However, they’re things she does in the film that makes me question if she’s good for the boys or bad as you can see she has them wrapped around her finger.
As for the story, it does end with a few plot holes left wide open and even though 91 minutes is a great running time, the film feels rushed and maybe another 10 minutes would’ve helped.
The moment Lee comes on screen you can see she’s going to be a star and it’s already beginning as she’ll be in Songbird starring Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother’s and Avengers) and Noel Clarke.
 |
| IMAGE VIA NEIL DAVIDSON/ AMBER CONTENT |
As for the two boys, Parry – Jones could be in TV drama and comedies, while O’Connell has the look to be an action star, but could also be a character actor similar to Brenden Gleeson.
If you get the chance to watch this movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime, I’d recommend it.
Verdict
Moon Dogs is lucky to have three brilliant leads to help carry this charming, heartfelt, yet clichéd coming-of-age drama comedy.
 |
| IMAGE VIA ANNE BINKEBANCK/ AMBER CONTENT |
No comments:
Post a Comment