2019 ReelAbilities Film Festival presents The Drummer and the Keeper

The Drummer and the Keeper (2017), directed and written by Nick Kelly, is a dramatic film about an uncanny friendship between a bipolar musician (Gabriel) and an institutionalized teenager with Asperger’s syndrome  (Christopher) set against the cityscapes of Dublin.  It stars Dermot Murphy (Gabriel) and Jacob McCarthy (Christopher).

We meet Gabriel in the opening shot, bare-arsed, setting fire to a couch he has dragged on the beach set against the cityscape of Dublin.   The film cuts to a staged intervention set up by his sister Alice and bandmates to get him help and before he begins his treatment with Dr. Flavahan, he torches his hearse.  Part of his treatment plan and to combat the side effects of his medication is participating in a mixed ability football game where he meets Christopher, and the highs and lows of their friendship begin and shape the narrative of the film.

McCarthy’s gives a poignant portrayal of a high functioning and highly intelligent teenager with Asperger’s syndrome whose acting performance demonstrates the signs of the syndrome including idiosyncratic behaviors, poor social communication skills and inability to read social cues, and obsessive and repetitive routines.   Murphy also shines in his performance as a deeply troubled bi-polar young man acting out the highs and lows of his character’s untreated bipolar disorder with psychotic features.  Their performances allow us to empathize with their characters and experience the highs and lows of their life.

The Drummer and The Keeper are full of twists and turns which creates dramatic tension and is peppered with comedic punctuation thanks to Christopher’s brutal honesty in his social dealings which provides the viewer with the cathartic release.  Gabriel’s therapy sessions, a running motif in the film, stitch the film into a cohesive structure.  The filmmaker has woven together many visual elements and editing techniques to create a compelling film juxtaposing the narrative of their friendship against Gabriel’s bipolar disorder and Christopher’s Asperger’s syndrome and the narrative of their individual identities.   By juxtaposing Gabriel’s functioning, on and off his medication, the filmmaker shines a light on the devastating impact untreated bipolar disorder can have on a person’s life.  The soundtrack and the music performances in the film add a richness and a complexity to the film and help set the tone.  The St. Cosmas musical performance toward the end of the film had me reaching for Kleenex.   The cut-aways of the cityscapes of Dublin add another layer of complexity situating the storyline within a context and geography.   The filmmaker succeeds in creating intimate portraits of the two men and we see them as they want us to see them and not as  Gabriel’s bipolar disorder and Christopher’s Asperger’s syndrome even though they form a part of their narrative identities.  Although the storyline is formulaic, boy meets boy, boy loses boy, the boy finds boy again, it nevertheless works and dramatizes the uncanny friendship they share.  When the outcome looks bleak and dismal, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and the film pleasantly surprises.

In spite of the dramatic storyline, the film is nevertheless a feel-good movie and a bromance film that will tug at your heartstrings.   It’s a compelling film because it not only gives cinematic expression to the aspirations and dreams of people with mixed abilities but explores dimensions of mental health and personality disorders framed within the pathology of psychiatric diagnoses through the storyline of friendship between Gabriel and Christopher.

I enjoyed The Drummer and The Keeper for its uplifting and positive storyline.  There is much to recommend it.  It’s a film that celebrates the underdog, the bonds of friendship, and focuses on ability and not a disability to move forward in life.    Do see it for you won’t be disappointed.

The Drummer and The Keeper will be playing at Innis Town Hall on Thurs, May 30 at 7pm

Tickets for Reelabilities Film Festival can be purchased here