WFG RATING: A

A Zoology Films production. Written, produced, and directed by Mark McAuley. Cinematography by Greg Kozma. Edited by Jeffrey Doyle.

Stars Kojii Helnwein, Lacy Moore, Sadhbh Larkin Coyle, and Mark McAuley.

A funeral for a childhood friend leads to chaos and dark revelations in this film from Mark McAuley.

Anna and her partner Kate are on their way to a funeral procession for Jimmy, an old childhood friend of Anna’s. When they arrive, they meet Siobhan, Jimmy’s grieving widow. She attempts to get both Kate and Anna to drink but neither have interest as they are preparing to leave for the airport after the funeral. Things are about to get more complicated when Michael, Jimmy’s estranged brother, shows up at the funeral. His arrival leads to massive tension with a dark revelation about a past incident ready to be revealed. 

If you have heard the term, “cut the tension with a knife”, that would be a broad understatement in this drama from the mind of Mark McAuley. The story of a young woman attending the funeral of her childhood friend leads to jealousy, dissension, rage, and revelation all in a neat little package that is so emotional that by the film’s end, there is only one character you’re gonna show empathy for, and lo and behold, it will not be the widow. 

From the beginning, we already begin to see the tension between Anna, played by Kojii Helnwein, and Kate, played by Lacy Moore. As the two sit in the car contemplating about going to the house. Once they are there, we meet Siobhan, played with a sense of jealousy and disdain by Sadhbh Larkin Coyle. From the moment the two ladies walk in, Siobhan is practically looking for drinking buddies to help her grieve but as the film progresses, she is seen completely ignoring her baby and having serious reservations about Anna due to her past with her husband.

Filmmaker McAuley inserts himself into the mix as Jimmy’s brother Michael. You can see the tension really cut through once he arrives. Attempting to keep things grounded and civil, we see Siobhan attempt to blame him for Jimmy’s death as well as getting paranoid where she believes he is getting too close to Anna, who she believes has dark intentions by showing up. The final moments leads to a very shocking revelation that when it is revealed, it is jaw-dropping.

aWake is a very tense and emotional drama that brings out some amazing performances, with Kojii Helnwein the breakout of the film and Sadhbh Larkin Coyle is living proof that if you play someone unlikable well enough, you’re that good of an actor! 

The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime UK