Crossmaheart, based on Colin Bateman’s novel Cycle of Violence, concerns the misadventures of Miller, a disgraced Belfast journalist who is sent to a small Northern town to replace a fellow reporter who has mysteriously disappeared. Romantic entanglements, near-death experiences, and a particularly sadistic Republican hairdresser lie in wait. Bateman, who authored the film’s screenplay, takes every worn cliché and makes it seem fresh in this energetic and irreverent black comedy. The first of Bateman’s novels to be filmed (followed by the highly successful Divorcing Jack, screened here last year), Crossmaheart is testament to the author’s singular vision—an entirely new, dare we say hip, version of Northern Ireland.