FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE You, Me & Marley 

If you drop by our Filmkunstbar Fitzcarraldo on a Tuesday, you'll get to know (and understand, which takes a while) Aoife. She comes from Belfast. And if you read up a bit on Belfast and the Northern Ireland conflict, you'll come across two newspaper stories: 1. in the early 90s, a couple of teenagers were shot dead by a policeman who was later released. 2. the trend of "twocking" and "hotting" = stealing cars and organising illegal races. This is what You, Me & Marley is about. Basically about antisocial youths, but presented with understanding and complexity. They live in a society that has nothing for them: Catholic Irish in Northern Ireland. What could be more natural than making fun of the establishment? And what can guys as different as the oddball Marley (Michael Liebmann), the intelligent Frances (Bronagh Gallagher) or the retarded Sean (Marc O'Shea) believe in? Northern Ireland is corrupt and deeply brutalised. That's exactly how we learn about it in the film. The RUC has lost all moral compass, ready to beat up teenagers. But Richard Spence's TV film finds the IRA and any paramilitaries even worse. Hypocritical, according to the IRA's actions, profiting from stolen cars. And the common people? In another worse film, they would be innocent. But not here. Effective measures are demanded, but supposedly no one knows anything about vigilante justice. At one point Mary is tied to a lamppost and women douse her with paint: "I am a hood". The great thing about You, Me & Marley is these believable and morally complex characters in the bleak landscape of Northern Ireland. Who is to blame? But that would be the wrong question. Instead of simple solutions, we are offered a humanistic lament for wasted lives and the culture of blame.