HAPPY HARDCORE
by Róisín Burns
Liverpool, 2004. Sean, 17, deserts his post in the midst of the Iraq war and returns to England. On the run, he finds his sister – the person dearest to him. Hunted by the army, he is forced to hide in a tunnel. Days go by. Soon, the violence and loneliness he tried to escape catch up with him.
Driven by her obsession to film her native region and idle youth, Róisin grounds her cinema in the working-class landscapes of Northern England. Through her characters, she explores territories reminiscent of early Ken Loach or Andrea Arnold. Fueled by memories of the young men she grew up with – adrift and resourceful – she probes the making of masculine identity, its simmering violence, cracks, and unspoked desires. To convey powerful, complex, and yet tender brotherly bonds, the project places music and parties front and centre. Through the intense, physical experience of listening, Happy Hardcore becomes a unique vehicle for sensory immersion, capturing the characters’ raw energy and emotional chaos. Róisin makes these worlds her own, infusing them with dark comedy, a punk edge, and subtle sensuality. With this unusual combination, she revisits a strand of British cinema, blending social realism with subversive poetry.
