Cardboard Gangsters breathes a ton of oxygen into a dead genre, the setting is a poor estate in Ireland and the back drop is about a group of friends who are tired of living week to week without any real money and struggling to find a purpose in life.
As well as the good writing throughout, there is an honesty to the film which draws you in, if this was a cliché London flick all the characters would automatically move from scene to scene murdering people or hurting people without there being a flicker of intimidation or thought from the character in question, this film highlights the fact that you can choose to live a dangerous life but if you do you might have to face up to some dark consequences,may seem like common sense but the average person is good-hearted and has the support of family around them, when you truly break out of societies decency rules the effects can be devastating to a persons own karma, I have not seen a film break new ground with such style and clever writing in a long time, all on a limited budget, the people involved in this film will go on to bigger and better things, I have no doubt, treat yourself to fabulous night in with the Cardboard Gangsters.
9/10
KO