Reviews

• 

  ★★★★ review by Garry McConnachie on Letterboxd

  A story of a son's unflinching love for his mother in the face of her alcohol abuse. Jack Reynor is quietly devastating as John trying to deal with his mum's addiction/sickness. Toni Collette is incredibly moving as his ill mother.

  This is powerful film-making with top-drawer performances across the board. Even Will Poulter's showing as John's closest mate, trying to find a purpose, is on point. But this is Reynor's film. Watching him unload all his pent up frustration, anger and sadness at his mum and her situation is genuinely heartbreaking.

• 

  ★★★★ review by Logan Jones on Letterboxd

  My review for Candid Magazine: www.candidmagazine.com/glassland/

  Jack Reynor is a force to be reckoned with.

• 

  ★★★½ review by Cogerson on Letterboxd

  A well acted depressing movie. Nice performances throughout the movie. Toni Collette has the best role...as she gets to play a depressed alcoholic mother. Movie is pretty slowly paced, but I eventually started to really pull for the main character. The ending was ok at best. Seems it could have had a much stronger and better ending. Final thought: A good movie....but this was a one and done movie for me.

• 

  ★★★★ review by GeoWright on Letterboxd

  Really good small drama about a son dealing with his alcoholic mother. Him working for criminals in order to get money to help her get better is part of the story too but in my opinion that aspect was a bit too subtle.

• 

  ★★★½ review by Jason Bailey on Letterboxd

  You’ve seen stories of substance abuse and its effects on a family, but rarely one as deeply unsentimental and candid as this one. Reynor plays John, a taxi driver who spends much of his free time caring for his hard-drinking, self-destructive mother (Colette); writer/director Barrett enters at a point where John’s basically resigned himself to the fact that he may not be able to “save” her, and spends quite a lot of the story merely observing their interactions and tricky dynamics. Colette is terrific – she’s got a long, searching centerpiece monologue about his father, his brother, and what drove her to drink, and it’s some of the most powerful and honest work she’s ever done – but this is Reynor’s show, and he is a face to watch. The thickness of the accents makes it a bit hard to follow at times, but that complaint aside, this is a modest yet thundering piece of work.

• See all reviews