2019 Directed by Abner Pastoll
The recently widowed mother of two, Sarah, is desperate to know who murdered her husband in front of her young son, rendering him mute. Coerced into helping a low-life drug dealer stash narcotics stolen from the local Mr. Big, she's forced into taking drastic action to protect her children, evolving from downtrodden submissive to take-charge vigilante.
Nick Baldock Peter Baldock Paul Heymans Patrick Singer Adrian Furdui Kristiana Udre James Matthews Olivia Celeste Barry
好女难寻, Uma Mulher no Limite, 굿 우먼, A Good Woman, Не буди в ней зверя, 好人难寻, Una buena mujer es difícil de encontrar, 好人難尋, אישה טובה קשה למצוא, (Nie)dobra kobieta, Una Buena Mujer es Difícil de Encontrar, Nehéz egy jó asszonyt találni, İyi Bir Kadın, サヴェージ・ウーマン 美しき制裁, Una bona dona (és difícil de trobar)
Canada
Fantasia International Film Festival
UK
FrightFest
Norway
Ramaskrik Film Festival
Ireland18
UK18
AustraliaMA15+
UK
New Zealand16
France
Russian Federation18+
Germany16
France
Australia
Canada
France
Germany
Ireland
New Zealand
Norway
Russian Federation
UK
FrightFest ends as it began, on a high. Abner Pastoll's domestic thriller is a slow burn, with darkness gathering around single mother Sarah, leading to up to an explosive and brilliantly cathartic finale.
The film is anchored by an excellent central performance from Sarah Bolger, who flies through the spectrum of emotions over the course of 97 minutes; she goes to some pretty dark places but never loses the viewer's sympathy. With the appearance of Tito, the tone of the film transitions from kitchen sink realism to a more stylized register and Edward Hogg as Leo Miller, with his grammatical pedantry, is the kind of unhinged cartoon villain that would grace a Shane Meadows script. In fact, the tangential revenge narrative invites comparisons with Dead Man's Shoes and Pastoll's film holds its own with that one in terms of a presenting an idiosyncratic vision of street-level criminality that's as blackly humorous as it is menacing.
Motherhood has more often than not been glamorized by Hollywood: films that portray mothers who somehow manage to juggle work and family, all while looking pristine. Abner Pastoll's A Good Woman Is Hard to Find strips away that idealism and presents a more realistic picture, albeit a gruesome one. And a lesson on why you shouldn't mess with single moms.
In one of the film's opening scenes, Sarah (Sarah Bolger), a single mother of two, is shopping at the grocery store. She has a list in her hand, with a note on the max amount of cash she is able to spend. When it comes time to pay, however, she finds herself short. It's hard to watch because, as all…
What an unexpected little gem. I love how it goes from realistic gritty miserableness to bonkersness. The performance from Sarah Bolger was astounding and the slowly built up tension became edge of the seat stuff. Hilarious ending.
Thank you to Sarah Bogler for making this movie work and carrying it on your back.
Besides her great central performance, the rest of the movie is middling at best. The script is a mess. It relies on overwritten moments to even maintain a film. Something happens about 40 minutes in and I didn't understand how the movie isn't just over then. But through bad characters and contrived moments, they continue the conflict.
Again, thank you Sarah Bogler. You sold it so well I only partially rolled my eyes at some of these moments
Not what I was expecting, I thought this was going to be a run of the mill revenge torture porn type thing, so I was surprised to see that it was actually more of a dark drama. Sarah Bolger is very strong, I’ve not seen her in much but the few things I’ve seen her in she’s always been great. The pacing feels a little off, and not much happens overall but it’s still not a bad watch. Worth it solely for how good Sarah Bolger is.
A mostly serious and even mean spirited excellent crime thriller with an occasional pop of humor. It’s got a lean run time and is very satisfying. Intense, gritty, a little bloody and the woman kicks some ass... drugs are bad and vibrators are good 🤣
Watched this great little gem with a friend this Christmas. Still holds up. Sarah Bolger is a revelation. I strongly recommend this little known British revenge thriller/drama to everyone who hasn’t seen it.
And merry Christmas everyone!
In the aftermath of her husband's murder, a single mother with two young children is struggling to make ends meet, with the police uninterested in bringing his killers to justice and her son had not spoken a word since his father's death it's all getting a bit too much for Sarah. When a drug dealer rips off the local drug lord and forces his way into Sarah's home it begins a chain of events that leads her into the criminal underworld looking for answers.
What a perfomance from Sarah Bolger! She is pretty damn good as she goes from a meek woman on the brink to one who's driven by her own grief seeking revenge on the people that took…
This turned out to be the second film in a row I watch where every single man featured is the absolute scum of the earth.
Where are all the decent guys at? I'm actually surprised this one's directed by a man.
It’s a strong performance by Sarah Bolger; actually, she's incredible, but the film is otherwise brought down a little by a typical depiction of the neighbourhood thugs - including a drug kingpin that's hamming it up a tad.
Also, fun fact (though it wasn’t much fun for the director), they initially had 20 days to film this, which was then cut down to 16. And between two different countries.
Just 16 days to make a film! But you wouldn’t know it, for this is quality indie cinema.
Of course, it helped that Sarah Bolger was on board, because this is pretty much her film.
Quick Review
Cerebral and atmospheric with grindhouse flair more so than an average crime thriller, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find deftly pursues its feminist revenge tale with mean and gripping skill and reinforced by a vivid, career-defining performance from Sarah Bolger. As the fourth feature from writer-director Abner Pastoll (the previous of which is Road Games), who has displayed a keen understanding towards the nature of old-school and classicism of the thriller genre, perfectly conveying through visual means with considerable elan Ronan Blaney's socially-conscious and layered script. The latter itself is written to be genre-flexible, opportunistically evolving from gritty kitchen-sink realism into an intense, albeit somewhat a bit campy revenge thriller; while altogether it's strong and offers something…
The Letterboxd Era Project 5: The Last One
I sort of begrudge giving this three stars.
I feel like director Abner Pastoll deserves maybe only one star for the way he took what could have been a really absorbing little drama about a young mother dealing with grief and surrounded by abusive men and fairly frequently make it utterly ridiculous.
But that would be unfair on Sarah Bolger, who puts so much into her character's exhausting experiences that she really deserves all the stars. It would also be unfair on an amazing scene where she has to deal with a dead body, which is *exactly* the sort of scene that A Good Woman is Hard to Find should be built…
Very intense thriller about a young widow and her two young kids being forced into a bad spot with some bad news drug dealers after a break-in...
Sarah Bolger was great and single handedly carried the film imho. There were some questionable decisions made by her during the first 30 mins or so that annoyed me. But after awhile she wises up and starts fucking shit up like a boss! Though I wish she would have done a lil more damage. Make em beg for mercy!
I dug that this one didn't go the typical rape revenge route instead opting for old fashioned revenge with a young woman just trying to protect her kids and live.
A Good Woman Is Hard To Find isn't the most realistic film as a few things just happened so conveniently but it was still a entertaining ride watch with some surprisingly solid bloodletting sprinkled in.
