Mundane routines acquire a creeping dread; barns become landscapes of terror
In the final week of May 2026, four films arrived in Irish cinemas as a kind of accidental survey of what cinema can be asked to do — to thrill without thinking, to comfort without surprising, to disturb without explaining itself, and to simply occupy an afternoon. From a Hungarian director's unsettling vision of farm life through a chicken's eyes to a galaxy far, far away rendered in familiar explosions, the week posed a quiet question audiences have always faced: what are you willing to bring to the dark?
- György Pálfi's Hen arrives as the week's most urgent provocation — a five-star thriller that transforms barnyard routine into creeping dread, refusing every soft instinct of the animal-story genre.
- The Mandalorian and Grogu draws the largest crowds, offering Pedro Pascal in a fast-moving Star Wars adventure deliberately unburdened by the mythology that exhausted its predecessors.
- Finding Emily courts its audience with a knowing Manchester romcom, leaning into its own predictability rather than resisting it, while a secret thesis plot gives the familiar formula a gentle structural twist.
- Tom & Jerry: Forbidden Compass lands at the week's far end with two stars — functional, unambitious, and destined to dissolve from memory before the credits finish rolling.
- Taken together, the four releases map a clear hierarchy of artistic intent, leaving each filmgoer to decide how much they wish to be challenged by the experience of sitting in the dark.
Four films opened in Irish cinemas on May 22nd, 2026, each staking out different territory on the spectrum between comfort and challenge.
The week's biggest release was Jon Favreau's Star Wars spin-off, reuniting Pedro Pascal with the Mandalorian role that first made him a household name. The film sends its heroes after Jabba the Hutt's son through a succession of action set pieces, moving quickly and asking little of its audience beyond attention. Its chief virtue is a deliberate lightness — no accumulated mythology, no heavy lore, just the kind of uncomplicated adventure that once felt like enough. At 132 minutes and rated 12A, it is engineered for broad appeal and makes no apologies for what it is.
Alicia MacDonald's Finding Emily offers a warmer alternative: a Manchester-set romcom in which a musician searches for a woman he glimpsed at a crowded night out, while the Emily who agrees to help him is quietly using the whole affair as the subject of her university thesis on romantic desire. The premise telegraphs its destination early, and the film wisely leans into that rather than fighting it. Manchester is sold hard as a backdrop, perhaps harder than necessary. The result is comfortable, unpretentious, and delivers exactly what it promises.
The week's most remarkable film came from György Pálfi, the Hungarian director behind the 2006 cult horror Taxidermia. His new work, Hen, is a thriller narrated almost entirely from the perspective of a single chicken on a farm. Pálfi refuses both the sentimentality of nature documentaries and the cheerful anthropomorphism of animated animal stories. Instead, ordinary farm existence — daily routines, the social dynamics of the flock, a menacing rooster — accumulates into something quietly terrifying. Barns become spaces of dread. The mundane becomes sinister. Critics awarded it five stars, calling it wholly original and uncompromising. At 96 minutes in limited release, it was the week's clear artistic peak.
Rounding out the four was Tom & Jerry: Forbidden Compass, a 100-minute animated feature directed by Zhang Gang. It earned two stars — competent, diverting for an afternoon, and unlikely to leave much trace afterward.
The week amounted to an accidental hierarchy: a genuine work of vision at the top, two pieces of honest entertainment in the middle, and one film content simply to exist. The choice between them depended entirely on what a viewer in late May 2026 was willing to bring to the cinema with them.
Four films arrived in cinemas the week of May 22nd, 2026, each offering something different to audiences looking for an escape. The most prominent was a Star Wars picture directed by Jon Favreau, featuring Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian, reuniting him with the character that made him famous on television. The film sends its heroes in pursuit of Jabba the Hutt's son across a landscape of set pieces and explosions. What distinguishes it from recent Star Wars efforts is its refusal to burden itself with the accumulated mythology that weighed down the trilogy before it. The story moves fast, asks little of the viewer beyond attention, and delivers the kind of straightforward adventure that once felt like enough on a lazy afternoon. Pascal, comfortable in the role, carries the film without strain. At 132 minutes and rated 12A, it's engineered for broad appeal and makes no apologies for its simplicity.
For those seeking something lighter, Alicia MacDonald's Finding Emily offers a Manchester-set romantic comedy with a structural twist. Spike Fearn plays Owen, a musician employed at a university, who becomes fixated on finding a woman named Emily after a chance encounter at a crowded night out. Angourie Rice plays a different Emily, a fellow student who agrees to help with the search while secretly using Owen as the subject of her thesis on the mechanics of romantic desire. The premise is familiar enough—audiences will sense where the narrative is heading—but the film leans into that predictability rather than fighting it. The picture works hard to sell Manchester as a character in itself, perhaps harder than necessary. At 110 minutes and also rated 12A, it's designed as comfort viewing, the kind of film that doesn't demand much but delivers what it promises.
The week's most striking offering came from György Pálfi, the Hungarian director behind the 2006 cult horror film Taxidermia. His new work, titled Hen, is a thriller told almost entirely from the perspective of a single chicken navigating farm life. Pálfi has no interest in the sentimentalized nature documentary approach or the cheerful anthropomorphism of animated animal stories. Instead, he constructs a fable where ordinary chicken existence—the daily routines, the interactions with other birds, the presence of a particularly menacing rooster—accumulates into something quietly terrifying. Barns and farmyards become spaces of dread. The mundane becomes unsettling. At 96 minutes with no certification, the film is a limited release, and critics found it utterly original, a work that justifies the attention it demands. This was the week's five-star review, a film that seemed to arrive fully formed, uncompromising in its vision.
Rounding out the week was Tom & Jerry: Forbidden Compass, a 100-minute animated feature directed by Zhang Gang. The film reunites the classic cat-and-mouse pair in what amounts to a standard adventure, rated for general audiences. It landed with two stars, suggesting competence without distinction—the kind of film that will occupy children for an afternoon without leaving much impression afterward.
The week offered a clear hierarchy of ambition. At the top sat Pálfi's chicken thriller, a work of genuine artistic vision. Below that, the Star Wars film and the Manchester romcom occupied the middle ground, offering entertainment without pretension. At the bottom, the Tom & Jerry picture served its function without aspiring to anything more. For a moviegoer in late May 2026, the choice depended entirely on what kind of experience you were seeking: the unsettling and original, the familiar and comforting, or the simply diverting.
Citas Notables
Blissfully short on the tedious lore that clogged up the most recent trilogy, the film flings us into the action quickly— Irish Times review of The Mandalorian and Grogu
Utterly original and utterly essential— Irish Times review of Hen
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does a chicken thriller get five stars while Star Wars gets three?
Because Pálfi is doing something no one else is doing. He's not making a nature film or a children's story. He's building genuine dread from the ordinary. That's harder than it sounds.
But isn't Star Wars supposed to be entertaining?
It is, and it succeeds at that. But entertainment and originality aren't the same thing. The Mandalorian film knows exactly what it is—a straightforward adventure. Hen doesn't know what it is, and that uncertainty is part of what makes it work.
So the Manchester romcom is just filler?
Not filler. It's honest about what it is. You know where it's going, and the film knows you know. That's not a weakness if the journey is pleasant.
What about the Tom & Jerry film?
It exists. It will be watched. It will be forgotten. That's not a judgment—some films are meant to be temporary.
So if I only have time for one, which one?
If you want to see something you've never seen before, Hen. If you want to feel good for two hours, Finding Emily. If you want spectacle without thinking, Star Wars. The choice depends on what you need that day.