Barry Keoghan & Cosmo Jarvis’s gritty Irish crime thriller is on TV tonight

The crime thriller is set in the West of Ireland.

The film centres around Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong (Jarvis), a once-promising boxer who quit the sport after a tragic event in the ring.

Attempting to provide for his autistic son with his ex-partner, Ursula (Niamh Algar, The Iris Affair), Arm works for the feared criminal family, the Devers, in the West of Ireland.

Arm is mostly employed as a muscle man for Hector and Paudi’s nephew Dympha (Keoghan). His loyalty to the family is tested, however, when he is ordered by the clan to kill someone.

Directed by Nick Rowland (She Rides Shotgun), Calm With Horses does a terrific job of transplanting many of the staples of the gangster genre (intrigue, shocking violence, thrilling set-pieces) into rural Ireland.

That said, it's more emotional than you might expect, with the core of the story being about the clash between Arm's real family and his surrogate family, the Devers.

It's also all about whether Arm can find redemption for the violence he has committed in the employ of the Devers, and if so, how?

Calm With Horses' Irish cinema release in March 2020 was cut short by Covid-19. As such, it probably hasn't garnered the audience it deserves.

The film is airing on TV tonight/tomorrow morning on Film4 at 11.35pm. It's also currently streaming on the service Mubi.

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Movies on TV, Sunday, 8 November