The Randomers

I’ve been asked to highlight a recently released independent Irish movie, “The Randomers”, the fourth feature-length film from writer-director Graham Jones. The free-to-view drama focuses on a love affair sparked by the actions of a young woman living on the west coast of Ireland who places an advertisement seeking a man for a relationship “without speaking”. What follows is their meeting and time together as they travel in wordless companionship through urban and rural landscapes, visual and musical cues setting the tone of each scene. Though the verdant counties of Galway and Mayo have never looked better it is the near mute actions and reactions of the two lead actors, Sarah Jane Murphy and Joseph Lydan, that give the movie its strength. Their looks, their body language, their silences-within-silences say it all. “The Randomers” is an unexpectedly engaging endeavour, beautifully shot and produced, and shows what is possible on even the most limited of budgets when creativity, imagination and talent are given a free hand.