Ballywalter – Film Review
by Katie McCann

Director – Prasanna Puwanarajah
Writer – Stacey Gregg
Stars – Conor MacNeill, Seána Kerslake, Joanne Crawford

Eileen (Seána Kerslake) is lost. After recently returning from London after failing out of her
college course, she is now stuck at home driving a taxi with no sense of where she is going in
life. Shane (Patrick Kielty) is similarly adrift but when he hires her to drive him to his weekly
stand-up comedy class, an unlikely friendship is born that just might offer them both the hope
they need.

Ballywalter is a quietly moving and affecting new film by writer Stacey Gregg and director
Prasanna Puwanarajah, that looks at the ways in which we isolate ourselves and how connection
is really the only thing worth fighting for. Both Kerslanke and Kielty turn in beautifully
understated yet powerful performances in this sleight-of-hand script. There is no fat on the 90
minute run time and Puwanarajah’s direction leaves space for the unsaid, allowing the audience
to make their own minds up.

With a film such as this, there is the risk of leaning too hard into cliches, of going for the easy
nice neat ending, but Ballywalter holds true to its tone and humanity throughout. There are no
quick fixes, vulnerability is painful and healing a long road but once you have some people to
walk that road with you it becomes just that little bit more bearable. Ballywalter is a quiet film
with a big heart that will stay with you long after the credits roll.