Rosie

Chronicling an ordinary couple’s struggle to keep their family intact, the latest from Irish director Paddy Breathnach (I Went Down) is an urgent piece of filmmaking that reminds us how easy it can be to slip through the cracks.

Written by Booker Prize–winning author and scenarist Roddy Doyle (The Commitments), Rosie would break your heart if it weren’t such a forceful testament to the resilience of love and family.

When their landlord sells their rental home, Rosie (Sarah Greene), John Paul (Moe Dunford), and their young family find themselves homeless. With their essential belongings crammed into their car, they begin the daily search for a place to sleep. While John Paul works kitchen shifts, Rosie drives the older kids to and from school, where shame keeps them from confessing the desperation of their situation. Old emotional wounds prevent Rosie from accepting her mother’s offer to put up the kids, so the family is reduced to roaming the city daily, uncertain as to which — if any — hotel will accept the Dublin City Council credit card they’re dependent on to provide them with lodging.

Reminiscent of the Dardenne brothers in its graceful deployment of handheld close-ups and breathless narrative momentum, Rosie is profoundly invested in its characters and their plight.

Rosie and her family are good, capable people willing to work hard and make do. They are not looking for handouts or pity. All they want is to hold onto something many of us take for granted: dignity.

MICHÈLE MAHEUX