REDEMPTION OF A ROGUE 2nd February 2024

 

The exhilarating, Bible-inspired, pitch-black comedy 'Redemption of a Rogue' centers on a prodigal son returning to his rural Ireland hometown to seek redemption for his sins. 

It’s been seven years since Jimmy Cullen (Aaron Monaghan) set foot in (the fictional) Ballylough, a godforsaken spot of near-perpetual rain. Back then, he departed in disgrace, leaving behind younger brother Damien (Kieran Roche), a brutal father who raised them with his fists (Hugh O’Brien) and embittered, onetime girlfriend Patricia (Liz Fitzgibbon). Helmer Doherty cleverly doles out information about Jimmy’s shameful past in the form of flashbacks in a 16mm format that reveal his wrongdoings. Amusingly, although these episodes show events from years ago, he’s still pictured as his current bearded, battered, adult self.

Forced by the terms of his deceased father’s will to hang around Ballylough until the rain stops and the old man can be buried, Jimmy suffers through a personal purgatory of suicidal thoughts and savage encounters until he meets sultry singer Masha (Aisling O’Mara), a Mary Magdalene-ish figure, in a local pub. As the rain continues for a dismal, Noah-esque 40 days and 40 nights and Ballylough’s children stop talking and eating, Jimmy takes the advice of a saucy, cigarette-smoking Virgin Mary (Lorna Quinn) who comes to life in a local church and comes up with a plan to save the children and engineer his own salvation.