One of the best Irish thriller movies of the past 10 years is on TV tonight

Barry Keoghan is one of the stars of the crime thriller, which is set in the West of Ireland.

The film centres around Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong (Jarvis), a once-promising boxer who quit the sport after a tragic event in the ring.

Attempting to provide for his autistic son with his ex-partner, Ursula (Niamh Algar, The Iris Affair), Arm works for the feared criminal family, the Devers, in the West of Ireland.

The family’s operation is run by a pair of brothers: Hector (David Wilmot, The Guard), who has aspirations of going legit, and Paudi (Ned Dennehy, Peaky Blinders), a more vicious and scary figure.

Arm is mostly employed as a muscle man for Hector and Paudi’s nephew Dympha (Keoghan). His loyalty to the family is tested, however, when he is ordered by the clan to kill someone.

Directed by Nick Rowland (She Rides Shotgun), Calm With Horses does a terrific job of transplanting many of the staples of the gangster genre (intrigue, shocking violence, thrilling set-pieces) into rural Ireland.

That said, it's more emotional than you might expect, with the core of the story being about the clash between Arm's real family and his surrogate family, the Devers.

It's also all about whether Arm can find redemption for the violence he has committed in the employ of the Devers, and if so, how?

The supporting cast of the movie is terrific too, featuring Irish performers Bríd Brennan (Doineann), Hazel Doupe (Kathleen is Here), Liam Carney (Barber), Simone Kirby (Kneecap) and Toni O’Rourke (God's Creatures).

Calm With Horses' Irish cinema release in March 2020 was cut short by Covid-19. As such, it probably hasn't garnered the audience it deserves.

The film is airing on TV tonight/tomorrow morning on RTÉ2 at 10pm. It's also currently streaming on the service Mubi.

Calm with Horses Trailer

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Meet the Fockers - E4 - 9pm

This decent, if less funny, sequel to Meet the Parents adds Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman to the mix.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - Film4 - 9pm

Another lesser follow-up, this time in the spy action franchise featuring Colin Firth and Taron Egerton.

Equilibrium - Legend - 9pm

Christian Bale stars in this cult sci-fi action movie set in a future where all emotion is illegal.

Man on a Ledge - Legend Xtra - 9pm

[Trailer voice] Sam Worthington is... a man on a ledge.

A Man Called Horse - TG4 - 10.20pm

The '70s Western starring Irish legend Richard Harris.

Moulin Rouge! - BBC Two - 11pm

Baz Luhrmann's beloved jukebox musical starring Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman as lovers in early 20th-century Paris.

Outlander - Legend - 11.05pm

This 2008 action thriller starring Jim Caviezel about a spacecraft that crashes in Norway during the Iron Age should be more entertaining than it is.

Peggy Sue Got Married - RTÉ One - 11.15pm

In this hit comedy-drama from director Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now, The Godfather), Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) faints at a high school reunion, before awakening to find herself in the past just before she finished school.

Babylon - Film4 - 11.45pm

Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie are among the stars of this divisive Golden Age of Hollywood-set three-hour-long epic, which we are big fans of.