Here Are the Young Men

After witnessing a young girl die in a car accident, Dublin teens Matthew (Dean-Charles Chapman), Kearney (Finn Cole) and Rez (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) spend their "final summer of freedom" exploring their appetites for death, drugs and violence, with predictably disastrous consequences. Adapted by writer/director Eoin Macken (The Inside) from Rob Doyle's 2014 novel, the film owes a big debt to Irvine Welsh, but never quite achieves the same adrenalised amorality. The young leads fully commit, not least to their accents (only Sing Street's Walsh-Peelo is Irish) and Anya Taylor-Joy shines in a clearly-beneath-her girlfriend role. Meanwhile, James Mather's cinematography captures the restlessness of being young, free and perpetually messed-up. But the sections devoted to a fantasy TV show hosted by Travis Fimmel don't work, the supporting cast (including Ralph Ineson and Susan Lynch) has little to do, and the film never fully engages with its own nastiness. Ultimately, like the boys themselves, this has bags of energy, but lacks focus.