The title could apply to any of the three main characters in this overwhelmingly tense and brutal thriller from first-time feature director Stephen Fingleton, who is a supremely well-deserved Bafta nominee in the outstanding British debut category. The scene is a post-apocalyptic future in the north of Ireland as there’s a dialogue reference to Monaghan, a county near the border. The opening titles hint at catastrophic population growth – there is no hunger-gaming or maze-running. This is old-school scary and depressing realist futurism; a breakdown in society, law and order. Martin McCann plays a lone survivor growing crops around his shack in a forest, shouldering a rifle and on the lookout for interlopers; ready to defend himself. Two blank-faced women arrive, begging for food: the elder, Kathryn (Olwyn Fouéré) and the younger, Milja (Mia Goth). Their relationship becomes a question of shifting allegiance and changing balance of power. The physical suspense is all but unbearable: a sexualised hunger, fear and need. Fingleton writes and directs with gusto and flair.
