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Bring Them Down

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Bring Them Down
Film poster
Directed byChristopher Andrews
Screenplay byChristopher Andrews
Story by
  • Christopher Andrews
  • Jonathan Hourigan
Produced by
  • Ivana MacKinnon
  • Jacob Swan Hyam
  • Ruth Treacy
  • Julianne Forde
  • Jean-Yves Roubin
  • Cassandre Warnauts
Starring
CinematographyNick Cooke
Edited byGeorge Cragg
Music byHannah Peel
Production
companies
Distributed byMubi
Release dates
  • 8 September 2024 (2024-09-08) (TIFF)
  • 7 February 2025 (2025-02-07) (United Kingdom, Ireland, and United States)
Running time
105 minutes[1]
Countries
  • Ireland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Belgium
Languages
  • English
  • Irish
Box office$303,114[2]

Bring Them Down is a 2024 thriller film written and directed by Christopher Andrews (in his feature directorial debut), starring Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott, Nora-Jane Noone, Paul Ready, Aaron Heffernan, Conor McNeill, Susan Lynch, and Colm Meaney.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2024. Its UK premiere was at the London Film Festival. It was released in theaters worldwide on 7 February 2025, by Mubi.

Plot

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The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative. The following is a linear summary of the plot.

Michael is a shepherd who lives with his wheelchair-bound father Ray in rural Ireland. He previously caused a car accident which killed his mother and heavily wounded his girlfriend Caroline, who later leaves him for their neighbour and fellow shepherd Gary. Gary's family is experiencing financial trouble after a storm destroys a bridge that links their house to the main road. Under Gary's instruction, his son Jack steals two of Micahel's rams to resell for profit and lies to Michael that the rams had run onto their property visibly ill, giving him no choice but to put them down. However, Michael later finds his rams for sale at the local livestock market and confronts Gary in a rage, who coldly refuses to return them. Later that day, Gary and Jack angrily chase Michael in their car but swerve into a tree. Michael comes to their rescue and bring them home, only for an ungrateful Gary to stand by his decision to keep Michael's livestock.

Jack and his cousin Lee drive to Michael’s farm and cut off every ram's legs to resell, killing Michael's dog in the process when he coincidentally visits the farm to inspect his livestock. Michael tells Ray what happened, who angrily commands him to "take the head" of the culprit. Armed with a shotgun, Michael stalks Gary, hiding in his pickup truck as Gary drives it to a friend's recreational vehicle. Michael stealthily jumps out of the truck but fails to bring himself to shoot Gary despite having multiple opportunities. After Gary leaves, Gary's friend spots Michael, who manages to snatch Michael's shotgun and shoot him in his ear, but dies after Michael pushes him into a pile of bricks which fall on him.

A heavily injured Michael walks to Gary's home where Caroline and Jack aid him, just after Gary leaves the house. Caroline and Jack drive him to his home along with a bag in his possession. Caroline fails to get a signal when she tries to call emergency services at Michael's home. Despite Jack's pleas, Caroline decides to leave to seek a better signal, leaving Jack alone with Michael and Ray. Ray opens the bag, which is revealed to contain the severed head of the man he killed earlier. Michael tells Ray that he has fulfilled his demand of bringing him a head, although admits that this was the "wrong" head. Terrified, Jack flees into the mountains, where Michael catches up and the two stab each other with Jack's pocket knife. Nevertheless, Michael comes to Jack's aid and carries him back home, where Caroline confronts him with a shotgun after discovering the severed head. Michael apologizes to Caroline, who puts the gun down and drives Jack away. A dazed Michael steps into his home.

Cast

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Production

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Funding for the film came from Mubi with additional funding from Screen Ireland, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and the UK Global Screen Fund which is financed by the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and administered by the BFI.[3] It is a European co-production with producers Ivana MacKinnon of the UK's Wild Swim Films; UK Producer Jacob Swan Hyam; Ruth Treacy and Julianne Forde of Ireland's Tailored Films and Jean-Yves Roubin and Cassandre Warnauts of Belgium's Frakas Productions.[4]

Casting

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Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott replaced Paul Mescal and Tom Burke in the cast in February 2023.[5]

Filming

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Principal photography took place in Ireland in February 2023.[6]

Release

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Bring Them Down had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 8 September 2024.[1]

It was released in cinemas on 7 February 2025.[7]

Reception

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 72 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "By withholding clear heroes or easy villains in its tale of a destructive neighborly feud, Bring Them Down stands out as an exceptionally nuanced exercise in vengeance."[8] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[9]

Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "For all its ferocious focus, this is a relatively quiet movie that embraces its smallness. It doesn't come at us as a teacher with a lesson, but more like a hard man in a pub who's drunk just enough to loosen up and get a bit vulnerable, but not so much that he gets self-conscious and needs to direct his misery outward and pick fights with other patrons."[10]

Accolades

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Bring Them Down won Best Film at Fantastic Fest, the Fipresci Prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Festival and Best Screenplay at the Rome Film Festival.[11][12]

Andrews won Best Debut Director at the British Independent Film Awards in November 2024, where the film was also nominated for Best Debut Producer.[13][14]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Bring Them Down". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Bring Them Down (2024) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  3. ^ Ritman, Alex (23 February 2023). "Barry Keoghan Replaces Paul Mescal in Mubi's Irish Drama 'Bring Them Down,' First Look Revealed". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  4. ^ Rosser, Michael (23 February 2023). "Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott to star in Mubi feature 'Bring Them Down'". Screen Daily. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  5. ^ "Barry Keoghan replaces Paul Mescal in new Irish drama "Bring Them Down"". Irish Central. 27 February 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  6. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (23 February 2023). "BAFTA-Winning 'Banshees of Inisherin' Star Barry Keoghan Replaces Paul Mescal in MUBI's 'Bring Them Down': First Look Revealed". Variety. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  7. ^ "Bring Them Down". MUBI. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Bring Them Down". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  9. ^ "Bring Them Down Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  10. ^ Zoller Seitz, Matt (7 February 2025). "Bring Them Down". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  11. ^ Taylor, Drew (24 September 2024). "Barry Keoghan's 'Bring Them Down' Wins Best Picture, Main Competition at Fantastic Fest : Exclusive". The Wrap. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  12. ^ Forst, Achim (2024). "Staying True to Oneself". International Federation of Film Critics. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  13. ^ "British Independent Film Awards 2024: the winners in full". British Film Institute. 9 December 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  14. ^ Ntim, Zac (5 November 2024). "British Independent Film Awards: 'Kneecap' Leads Nominations". Deadline. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
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