[FANTASIA 2019] ‘A GOOD WOMAN IS HARD TO FIND’ Review

Sarah (Sarah Bolger) has recently lost her husband. He was stabbed and murdered, and Sarah wants to know who’s responsible. Lost in grief and caring for two young children, she wanders around seemingly lost. An asshole at the super market pokes her like a bear at the zoo, numerous times, and she can’t find it in herself to do anything about it. A drug dealer Tito (Edward Simpson) breaks into her home while on the run from those responsible for her husband’s death. He wants to use her place as a stash house. The problem is, he just keeps coming back. He’s aggressive, he’s violent, he’s dangerous, and she feels powerless. But then she realizes she’s not. She’s strong, she’s capable, and her momentary self-defense gets her in far more over her head than she bargained for. Now she’s in deep with gangster Leo Miller (Edward Hogg).

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Irish director Abner Pastoll (2015’s Road Games) makes the most out of Ronan Blaney’s low key, slow burn script for A Good Woman Is Hard To Find. It’s a title I’ve got a bit of trouble with, a tad unruly and inaccurate, but the movie works. The success is accomplished with a gritty, realistic visual palate, grounded setting, and some good use of natural lighting. Also. some really solid acting. The best thing about the film is hands down the performance from Sarah Bolger, though. A rough, emotional character that is deeply flawed and damaged. Her character never feels self realized and confident in herself, even when she seems to be in control and willing to do some tough things to protect her children. She’s not even looking after herself. Emotionally fragile, driven, desperate, and absolutely believable. Also great is the villainous turn from Hogg, a solid British character actor. Leo is a very intimidating, killer heavy, and the perfect counterpart to Sarah.

I first saw Bolger as one of the two phenomenal child actors in Jim Sheridan’s In America, but she’s since been definitely leaning towards genre projects like this. Most notably for me is a little movie called Emelie in which she is a twisted, sadistic babysitter. She’s currently doing great work on the Sons of Anarchy spin-off Mayans M.C. on FX, and I really hope A Good Woman gets her on more radars. It’s a great movie with a great performance.

While it just recently had a world premiere at Fantasia 2019, unfortunately, there’s no word on distribution at this time. Keep an eye out for this one, though! It’s worth the wait.