Tense new Irish thriller with unconventional release strategy worth seeking out

Stephen Porzio

The atmospheric and dark low-budget thriller is told in a mockumentary style.

It’s quite a time for a Irish cinema, with the past few months giving us such homegrown gems as All You Need is Death, Double Blind, Kneecap, Oddity and Swing Bout.

This month, meanwhile, will see the release of both Kathleen is Here and King Frankie, two Irish movies definitely worth seeking out.

Adding to this excellent crop of Irish films is Suit Hung, Tied Tongue, an ambitious and provocative new thriller told in a mockumentary style.

Presented by writer-director Sau Dachi in his feature debut as though it were a Prime Time-esque documentary – complete with a Claire Byrne-type journalist – the film takes place after a series of shocking crimes perpetrated by the brothers Sean and Freddie Halpin (Paul St Leger and Alex Eydt).

Through supposed home video footage, diary entries, interviews with their friends and family and even a psychologist’s analysis, the viewer learns more about what caused the Halpin brothers to go from ordinary young men to becoming “anarchically radicalised against the state”.

As well as this, the movie explores the fallout of their actions, which provoke “national outrage, disgust” but also “support” in some quarters.

Just from the filmmaking side, Suit Hung, Tied Tongue is an impressive piece of work. For one, the mockumentary format – used as a way of being able to tell the story on the low budget of around €10,000 – works wonders.

From a practical sense, it enables Dachi to deploy shaky camerawork, fixed camera interviews and stock footage in a way that does not detract from the film, but actually adds to it – increasing the sense of authenticity and intensity.

Sure, there are one or two scenes which are meant to take place in a particular setting that is difficult to replicate with little money that takes the viewer out of the movie. But for the most part, the viewer is just swept up in the story – particularly a climactic shootout captured via dashcam footage that feels visceral and like it could be in a Hollywood action flick.

As for the story itself, the film is sure to provoke controversy as more people to see it, due to its focus on political violence and vigilantism – combined with its references to real-world events: the CervicalCheck cancer scandal, Covid lockdowns, the Panama Papers.

That said, Dachi goes to great lengths not to glorify the fictional Halpin’s actions, by including harrowing interviews with the friends and families of their victims, as well as by taking care not to over-sensationalise the scenes in which they commit their violent acts.

The director captures these moments in a way that feels scary and unpleasant, while also shielding audiences from any on-screen carnage.

Instead, Suit Hung, Tied Tongue plays more like a cautionary tale, as if Dachi is saying that these events could happen in real-life if a government doesn’t look after its people and creates an environment where members of the public could become hopeless and radicalised.

As one character hauntingly notes towards the end of the film: “Every action has a reaction”.

So, where can you watch Suit Hung, Tied Tongue? Well, in an effort to build “mystique” around the movie, it is foregoing a typical cinema release in favour of a tour of private screenings across the country.

Speaking to JOE about this, producer Michael Earley explained: “We don’t have a massive budget so we really want to keep it just to the level that we keep control of it.

“If it went to the cinema, it would be gone in a week. It would be lost.

“That element of it is really important to us. We want the right people to see it and [to] have complete control over it.”

According to Earley, the movie will be playing at colleges next, with him telling JOE: “Free screenings in colleges and things like that.

“And then [we want to] just keep it low and then find the right distributor. We’re in talks with [a distributor in the] UK at the moment… They’re viewing it at the moment.”

For more information about Suit Hung, Tied Tongue, visit Standard Practice Productions’ website right here.

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