Sarah, (Sarah Bolger) a recently widowed young mother is incredibly frustrated after the local police fail to properly investigate her late husbands death. After taking matters into her own hands she gets more than she bargained for in her quest to bring those responsible to justice.
Pretty early on we’re introduced to a mysterious man named Tito (Andrew Simpson). Although his meeting with Sarah is quite sudden, we learn a lot about her marriage through their conversation. I thought this was a clever way to introduce this information to the audience.
A Good Woman Is Hard To Find is a multifaceted crime thriller. There are so many great twists and turns in this film that just when I thought I knew the direction the film was heading, it changed. Sometimes twists like this can completely derail a story but in this case I think it works brilliantly.
The way Sarah and her children were written by writer Ronan Blaney makes the family and their situation so relatable. You have a mother who will stop at nothing to protect her family and I think this is a story that any woman can relate to. Sometimes it’s hard for families to admit things about loved ones because it pokes holes in the fairytale they’ve lived in for so long.
Edward Hogg really impressed me with his performance as Leo Miller. Although his character is intimidating, maniacal, and twisted, I adored him. I thought he was the perfect villain for this story. His performance is one of the highlights of this film.
The score for this movie is fantastic. Each track is carefully and thoughtfully paired with its respective scene. The cinematography and lighting capture the story in a way that is strong, believable, and at times frightening.
I found myself flinching during a particular scene in the second half of the film. It was extremely powerful and I felt for Sarah and all the pain she’s endured. She was handed a terrible deck of cards and if she were a real person I would applaud her for strength and her courage.
I loved A Good Woman Is Hard To Find. I truly did. It’s because of my fondness for this film that I’m giving it a 10/10. Every scene and character was written and directed so brilliantly. I am very interested in seeing other films by director Abner Pastoll.
A Good Woman Is Hard To Find was recently shown at the 2019 Fantasia International Film Festival.
