‘We used to throw darts at Tayto packets’
For someone who “fell into filmmaking”, Cork Oscar-longlisted director Lochlainn McKenna possesses a level of courage, honesty, and finesse that many spend decades trying to achieve. Keep falling Lochlainn!
He’s out in “the sticks” of North Cork when the phone rings, and although there is a notable delay on the call, his energy comes through clear as a bell.
“I kind of fell into filmmaking, it wasn't something I had planned to do, and I never really had a direction or, I don't know, a goal or a mentor,” he explains.
McKenna’s deeply personal short film ‘Two for the Road’ feels like the delicate work of an older soul, someone who has been on the wrong (or right) side of a camera for ages. But no, this young director is only 30 and this strikingly candid and raw contribution to the world of dramatic cinema is just his third such outing.
The 20 minute film, based on McKenna’s own childhood, is both a tough and irresistible watch. It follows young Oscar (insert Oscar-selection premonition pun here) who is off on a weekend excursion with his dad, played by Steve Wall, in 1990s Ireland. The film’s sparse dialogue and empty, peaceful spaces soon give way to some very familiar chaos, all triggered by the father’s seemingly innocent remark: “Do you think that pub has pool?”
The film picked up the Best Drama Short award at the Oscar-qualifying Galway Film Fleadh and soon McKenna will find out whether or not he needs to book flights to LA to attend the famous award show.
A multi-award-winning writer and director, McKenna has worked extensively in advertising and has directed ads for brands like Specsavers, Tesco, Guinness, and Sky. He’s also directed music videos for the likes of Westlife and Keane.
“You often read about these directors, you read their bios, and they're like, 'I started out making skate videos on my dad's Bolex'. There was none of that, it was just putting one foot in front of the other and just trying to make a living, so the commercials became a necessity, but I also love it, so that just kind of made sense and so did the music videos,” says McKenna.
‘Two for the Road’ is the first funded film McKenna has made and it’s been a long process to get there.
He says: “It's the first bit of funding I've ever received for anything, ever. I'd only been filmmaking for seven years and within those seven years I went for every single application under the sun. I've done 30/40 different applications and didn't succeed with any of them. A lot of them were fiction or stories that other people had written. The only difference with this was that I knew it was a strong contender, not only because of the nature of the story but because of what had preceded it.”
It’s clear to see that McKenna went emotionally all-in with this film. Not only does he not shy away from tough moments, he plunges into them, using the perspective of a child to recreate a touching yet at times unacceptable scenario, describing perfectly how a child’s unconditional love can make awful moments seem okay, how a child can be trapped in a parent’s world.
“Of course, there were times when it was very emotional,” he says.
“You kind of have to put on two different hats, so I have my director/writer hat on and I was able to separate myself from the emotional aspect so I could focus on the work, but then at times it would come flooding back. At one stage the production designer was dressing the car and she asked did I want to 'sit in and have a look?', and I sat in and I was just immediately taken back to being ten years old. It was like entering a portal, it was the weirdest thing!”
The dynamics of the film are clear from the get-go. Oscar, played by impeccable first-timer Ewan Morris, speaks in abrupt, realistic sentences, while his dad speaks like a character from a Shakespearian play. It’s an incredibly clever use of dialogue. His lies are convincing. His stories are magical. It’s exactly how a child remembers an adult’s speech, romantic, rose-tinted.
“In my case, it was definitely born out of experience,” says McKenna.
“I do remember there was an earlier draft of the script where there was much more of a dialogue between them, but that's not how it happens generally. It's really important in the film that that power dynamic exists. Oscar is observing, he's constantly watching, and it was really important to me that it was from Oscar's perspective.
“You'll see there's a lot of handheld movement, long-lens stuff and Oscar's a bit chattier when things are fun and exciting and fresh, and when things get dangerous and serious, it's all static frames, wide angles, because it's basically him observing everything.”
In terms of narrative, McKenna’s use of simple and innocent things, like a battered old football or a game of pool, is genius. There’s no getting away from Ireland’s normalised pub culture and the generations of children brought up in that environment – endless Fantas, coins for the pool table, a situation that should not be normal for a child, but somehow becomes a cherished memory.
“This is a true story; my dad once bet £20 that I could beat this fella (at pool) and I beat him and your man wouldn't pay the money and they had a bit of a barney about it. There's only so many things a child can do in a pub. We used to throw darts at Tayto packets, sometimes we'd play rings – oh, and beermat towers!”
Lochlainn McKenna’s film ‘Two for the Road’ is longlisted for the 2024 Oscars and can be watched now on YouTube.