My Review of Pixie (2020)

 

Written by Preston Thompson

Directed by Barnaby Thompson 

Harland: "I'm sorry we didn't fucking cover body disposal in our economics course."

Throwing in an Irish movie where two thirds of the main protagonists are played by English actors, because why not? To be fair, the actors in question do manage to deliver convincing enough Irish accents. I'll let it slide.

This movie pivoted around Olivia Cooke, who took on the title role. Pixie started the movie by having two fellas - Fergus (Fra Free) and Colin (Rory Fleck Byrne) playing off each other in order to acquire some MDMA from a group of gangster priests. Yup, you heard that correctly.

Pixie wanted a new life in San Francisco and she was determined to get it any way that she could. She came from a family of gangsters - stepfather Dermot (Colm Meaney), stepbrother Mickey (Turlough Convery) and a stepsister named Summer (Olivia Byrne). Dermot and Summer doted on Pixie whereas Mickey hated her guts, so much so that he had Pixie's mother killed to make her suffer.

The death of Fergus and disappearance of Colin created a lot of tension, including the attention of gangster priest, Father Hector McGrath (Alec Baldwin). The third act would involve one of the nuttiest shoot outs in a local parish that you'll ever see.

For most of the movie though, Pixie found herself aligned with local drifters Frank (Ben Hardy) and Harland (Daryl McCormack). Both men were easily attracted to and led by Pixie, enabling her antics. Despite Pixie being open about her duplicitous ways, both Frank and Harland were shocked when she got one up on them.

They're an entertaining trio to actually watch throughout the whole movie. There's even a moment that predated Challengers and it's as fun to watch here as it was in that movie. You'll know exactly the one I'm talking about. I also liked that Pixie got to avenge her mother, twice over. 

- Another of Pixie's ex-boyfriends appeared during that shoot out. Gareth (Sebastian DeSouza) was the son of Hector.

- Other actor appearances included Pat Shortt, Chris Whalley, Dylan Moran and Ned Dennehy. All had some good scenes.

- Standout music: Horace Silver's Song For My Father and Marlena Shaw's California Soul.

- Chronology: The movie was set in Sligo. Pixie's mother had been killed by Colin (under Mickey's instructions) four years ago.

Pixie (2020) turned out to be a delight. It doesn't do anything new for the genre but it's a lot of fun. Olivia Cooke delighted as the title character and the supporting cast are great. There's plenty to enjoy here.

Rating: 7 out of 10