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Disco Pigs

Channel 4

February 2002

By Alistair Harkness

An outstanding teen drama about inseparable friends whose relationship is threatened by the onset of adulthood. Expertly written, acted and directed—and mercifully cliché free

The premise for 24-year-old Kirsten Sheridan's debut film sounds like it was lifted from the Nirvana song 'Drain You'. Two babies, born seconds apart, meet in a hospital and forge an inseparable connection. They grow up to be Pig (Murphy) and Runt (Cassidy): teenagers in perfect sync with each other. They live next door to each other, they have the same kooky rituals and they go to sleep holding hands through a secret hole in their bedroom wall.

But what starts out as a seemingly quirky love story soon takes a darker turn. An unexpected burst of violence from the permanently wired Pig shows that while together they are in harmony, separately his manic personality tends towards chaos, while Runt is a centre of calm. As they approach their 17th birthdays this balance gets thrown out of whack and their relationship begins to fragment.

Set in Cork and boasting remarkable performances from Murphy and Cassidy, Disco Pigs explores that moment when adulthood infects the sanctity of adolescence. From the opening scenes in the womb to the barely comprehensible-yet-lyrical language Pig and Runt speak (a Nadsat-like blend of colloquialisms and jumbled syntax), the exclusivity of their world is beautifully realised and richly textured, taking on a fairytale quality. The film spirals towards gut-wrenching violence (soundtracked by Englebert Humperdinck), but it's subtly handled and Sheridan demonstrates some real visual flair.