Film Review: CALM WITH HORSES (2019): The Emotional Crime Drama from Nick Rowland

Calm With Horses Review

Calm With Horses (2019) Film Review, a movie directed by Nick Rowland, and starring Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan, Niamh Algar, Ned Dennehy, Kiljan Moroney, and David Wilmot.

In his directorial debut, Nick Rowland releases this British Irish drama film which follows an ex-boxer, Douglas Armstrong, who works as the “muscle” for a criminal family, The Devers, and struggles with divided loyalties. We’re first introduced to the main character, Douglas, with a voice over as he’s waiting to be summoned for his next job. In the voice over, we learn that he’s always been violent, even from a young age but not always towards others. He informs the audience of the part of his life we don’t see before the movie begins, telling us that he was an ex-boxer and after leaving boxing, he started working for the Devers family as an enforcer. He describes his job as him being the person you meet if you get on the wrong side of the Devers family. In a quote, he sets the tone of the film and his path, telling the audience, “don’t go thinking all violence is the work of hateful men, sometimes it’s just a way I kind of make sense of this world.” He tells you right at the beginning of the film to not get the wrong impression of him and that his world might not make sense, but he’s about to show us how he goes about living in said world. He also makes it very clear that to the Devers family blood didn’t make you family, loyalty did.

We’re finally pulled into the present as there’s a knock on the window, Douglas getting the cue that he’s up. He’s given his instructions by Dympna, whose uncle’s run the criminal family,  to hurt but not kill, the person that has wronged the Devers family. He does as he’s told, showing that this was his norm as the family’s enforcer. As we get to know Douglas more, we see that he’s more on the quiet side and he isn’t as ruthless as his job makes him out to be. Though he’s also about three times the size of Dympna, we learn that Douglas is like a lapdog to the other. Dympna even whistles at him like an owner would a dog and calls him a ‘good boy’ when he obeys.

Now that we know what he does for a living, we are then taken into his personal life. He’s a father to an autistic son, Jack, and he isn’t around as much as he should be. He’s trying his best though and he shows up when he can. He isn’t around enough to know how to handle his son on a day to day basis, but for the temporary moments, he is doing his best. Douglas has a hard time balancing his loyalty to the Devers family and his loyalty to his kid. The mother of his child, Ursula, brings up the idea that she is looking into moving with their son elsewhere so that she can get Jack the proper help he needs for his autism and that she needs help with money in order to do so. She also continues to remind the audience and Douglas that he wasn’t always this version of himself, but he refuses to listen and doesn’t change anything because to him, this is how the world makes sense.

As this story unfolds, we dig deeper into his past, learning that he left boxing because he accidentally killed someone, which he hasn’t forgiven himself for. It isn’t until he’s asked to finish off the job he had started the film with, though he had hurt the man that had wronged the Devers family, it wasn’t enough and he’s told to kill him. Douglas struggles, knowing he isn’t that person that they’re making him out to be, and he ends up letting the guy run free. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy though, the news getting back to the criminal family and Douglas now being a target for disobeying their orders. He fights for his life as he realizes that even though he doesn’t want his son to leave town, Jack and Ursula are better off without him and gives his blessing. He knows he can’t extract himself from the trouble he’s gotten himself into and that audience is pulled into an emotional scene as he’s slowly coming to his end. He learns that Ursula got a new job that will help move her and Jack to a better environment for both of them and Douglas starts to cry. It’s tears of happiness due to the fact that even though he won’t be around, he now knows that they’re going to be okay. As the phone call comes to an end, simultaneously the car with the men who want him dead, pull up to the driveway. From where Douglas is sitting and saying goodbye to Ursula on the phone, you can see the lights of the car and you can’t help but feel the tension start to build. Are they going to get Douglas? Will they make him suffer? So many questions come to mind as they make their way from the car to the house. The tension slowly comes right back down though, thanks to the background music and Cosmo Jarvis’ emotional performance as his character is coming to peace with his ending. He gets a happy ending in a nontraditional way but it wasn’t disappointing at all. In this film, you’re told a story of loyalty, family, and struggle through the eyes of an unlikely hero. The film’s entire score helped bring you on this character’s journey, making you feel as if you’re right there with him, experiencing it. You don’t even realize that you’re being directed to feel a certain kind of way.

Rating: 8/10

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