News & Reports

Drifting (2020)

Dir. Robert Higgins & Patrick McGivney

Reviewed by Laura MacGregor

International Competition 14

Onsite June 7, 19:30-21:20 With Harajuku and Online June 12-30

The story in “Drifting” is not remarkable, but the way it is told is a quiet yet powerful reminder of the bonds siblings share and their enduring importance. The two brothers, Cian and Pat, are close – they share a smoke, spend an evening at a bar together, and work on the family farm together. Cian is the rowdy one and it is his brother that breaks up the fight he starts at the bar. The film’s tension begins to mount when we find out that Pat is going to Australia to get away from the Irish town he was born into and is suffocating in. Cian is the last to find out. Watch his reaction to the news and notice how the tone shifts near the end. Though not remarkable, the film is moving and memorable.

Drifting

＜Writer＞

Laura MacGregor is on faculty at Gakushuin University. Among the courses she teaches is one on film and the economy. She has been in Japan for a long time, and has been watching and studying about films and the film industry since the 1990s. SSFF & ASIA is one of her favourite film festivals in Japan so she is glad to participate this year as a volunteer translator and reviewer.