''Barber'' is a 2023 Irish thriller film starring

Aidan Gillen Aidan Murphy (born 24 April 1968), better known as Aidan Gillen (), is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three Irish Film & Television Awards and has been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, ...

. The film is written by

Fiona Bergin Fubar Films is an Irish film and television production company based in Dublin, Ireland. Fubar Films has been responsible for the production of Flick, Trouble with Sex, Eliot & Me, and comedy series On the Couch. Key people in the productio ...

and

Fintan Connolly Fintan Connolly is an Irish film director, screenwriter and producer living in Dublin. Much of his earlier work was in television documentaries which explored social issues in Ireland. He has also made films, including ''Flick'' (2000), '' Trou ...

, produced by Bergin and directed by Connolly. It premiered at the 2023

Dublin International Film Festival The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF; ) is an annual film festival held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003. History Dublin International Film Festival was established in 2003. It was revived by Michael Dwyer, international film critic and ' ...

Premise

Val Barber, a private investigator, is hired by a wealthy widow to find her missing granddaughter.

Cast

* Aisling Kearns * Gary Lydon * Helen Behan *

Deirdre Donnelly Deirdre Donnelly is an Irish actress, based in Dublin who works in television, films and theatre. Donnelly was a member of the Abbey Theatre Company for several years before leaving to work on the television series ''The Riordans''. She appear ...

Camille O'Sullivan Camille O'Sullivan is an Irish musician, vocalist, and actress. O'Sullivan is known for her unique, dramatic musical style and covers of artists such as Radiohead, Tom Waits, and David Bowie. As an actress, O'Sullivan has appeared in Mrs Hend ...

Ruaidhri Conroy Rory is a given name of Gaelic origin. It is an anglicisation of the ga, Ruairí/''Ruaidhrí'' and gd, Ruairidh and is common to the Irish, Highland Scots and their diasporas. for the given name "Rory". The meaning of the name is "red king", ...

Nick Dunning Nick Dunning (born 1957 in London) is an English actor. He is a well known theatre actor who attended RADA (Dip Hons) 1977, where he won the Ronson Prize for Most Promising Young Actor. He has appeared on stage in the West End in London and a ...

Jimmy Smallhorne Jimmy Smallhorne is an Irish filmmaker who wrote, directed and acted in his debut feature film ''2by4''. The drama about a closeted gay construction worker in New York City was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival ...

Release

The film received a theatrical release in Ireland on 14 April 2023.

Reception

A ''Film Ireland'' review said of the film, "This character study of a fragmented man searching for connection is certainly well timed for the post COVID era; Barber is an ambitious, accomplished film with a lot to offer". Writing in the '' Irish Examiner'', Declan Burke described it as "nowhere as bleak as the blackest of noirs tend to be, but Fintan Connolly, who also directs, has crafted a thoughtful, nuanced film that goes beyond the genre's conventions to deliver a noir with real heart".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 15783464, Barber 2020s English-language films Irish crime drama films Films set in Dublin (city) 2023 films