"It'll make you laugh to some degree, and it'll make you cry to some degree."
So said 500 Miles star Bill Nighy when he joined Brendan O'Connor on RTÉ Radio 1 last Saturday to discuss his latest big-screen outing.
It's the perfect synopsis for a film that starts off like Flight of the Doves and then turns into something else, with the Love Actually and Living star in the role of an estranged Irish grandfather.
As Nighy explained to the host, you can't say a lot about the plot of 500 Miles without giving too much away. Suffice it to say, brothers Finn and Charlie (Roman Griffin Davis and Dexter Sol Ansell) run away from their warring parents (Clare Dunne and Michael Socha) in Sheffield with a plan to take trains, boats, and buses to get to their grandad down in Kerry (Wicklow serving as a beautiful stand-in). Along the way, they meet a busker, Cáit (Maisie Williams), who turns into a guardian angel.
Watch: The trailer for 500 Miles
With a tip of the cap to tourism, there's banjo and fiddle from the off here, but don't underestimate the charms of a film that gets the job done in under 100 minutes. 500 Miles is pacy, the two young stars are a perfectly cast double act, and in its widest-eyed moments, it captures the freewheeling fun of being a kid. As a bonus, Nighy and Williams get the accents right.
In terms of big-screen twists, 500 Miles delivers one that's as powerful as it is unexpected - you thought you were watching one story and suddenly realise how wrong you were. Directed by BAFTA winner Morgan Matthews (Atomic People, The Last Survivors) and written by Malcolm Campbell (Bad Sisters, Ackley Bridge, What Richard Did), it's an adaptation of the Mark Lowery book Charlie and Me: 421 Miles from Home, and a nice addition to the CVs of all concerned.
