
Director : Randal Plunkett – Cast Includes : Katharine Isabelle, Hazel Doupe, Dermot Ward
THE GREEN SEA is the directorial debut of filmmaker Randal Plunkett and stars Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) as a once famous rock singer turned isolated writer : whenever I come across an independent/low budget movie that I no very little about I always look for that small something that will keep me interested enough to keep watching it, whether it be a good performance, interesting premise or some scenery that’s too beautiful to disgard, the movie I’m watching needs to show me something… well Plunkett’s debut had me hooked from it’s moody angry beginnings, I loved it’s deliberately slow pace, haunting score, photogenic Irish landscape, an intriguing narrative that had me searching for answers, asking myself questions like “is the Kid real?” or “why is Katharine’s character so hell bent on destruction?” and that leads me to mention a compelling performance by Katharine Isabelle who in my opinion has rarely been better, Simone may be her most interesting, unlikeable and layered character since playing the surgery loving Mary in the Soska Sisters crazy horror American Mary, it really is terrific stuff from Isabelle, giving life to Simone a character with this mysterious past, soaked in self loathing, drinking to oblivion and tired of the world until that is she runs over a young girl whilst driving home drunk one night, the girl we only get to know as the Kid is played by Hazel Doupe who I last seen in the fantastic Float Like a Butterfly, it’s the Kid’s reveal and dynamic between the two actresses that gives Plunkett’s film it’s core… I really loved the way The Green Sea uses it’s many flashback scenario’s played out in a sort of dreamscape that give you a passenger seat into Simone’s past and whether or not you understand some of the innuendo’s shown you can’t help but feel some sort of redemption for the film’s characters during it’s painful climax : A SLOW BURNING GEM ★★★★
