Review: On its Underbelly, ‘Match’ is Personal and Soulful

At the beginning of Laura O’Shea’s “Match,” I was reminded so much of why I love independent films as medium. A young woman gets into a man’s car she met on an online dating app in the dead of night for a hookup, and, low and behold, he isn’t a serial killer, he isn’t a rapist, and he doesn’t have grand, mischievous designs. They negotiate trying to have sex. He talks. She listens. And, before the short, 12-minute movie is over, we’re welcomed into their little world. 

O’Shea is no stranger to independent films. She’s starred in several, such as “Con,” “Narcan,” and her own directed “Hold the Line,” which won O’Shea ‘Best Actress’ at our 2018 Independent Film Awards last year. Here, she directs a short and sweet project with co-director Tony Doyle. Unlike the short “The Driving Seat,” which also deals with cars, front seats, and hookups, or O’Shea’s other projects, “Match” focuses on two strangers who meet, and how far their initial expectations for the evening land from their ultimate catharses. In line with most independent films, these catharses aren’t life-altering or revelatory, but personal, painful, and real. 

What makes “Match” such a genuine picture, is that although its centered on the notion of sex and hookups, under Doyle and O’Shea’s guidance, it’s allowed to become something more. Of course a lot happens here, but to give away the film’s plot is to do it a disservice. Suffice to say that through well-written dialogue, believable acting, and a pleasing score, we are allowed to glimpse into the hearts and minds of these two strangers, and we like what we see. This is a film you can compare to the likes of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise,” or Chris Evans’ doleful “Before We Go” – it’s about romance, it’s about revelations, and, on its underbelly, it’s about the power of healing and letting go. 

The film is helped by a number of production values, all the way from the acting to the cinematography, lighting, and sound. The film stars but three actors, although one (a truncated Emma Jane Purcell) is left to the wayside. The bulk of the story deals with Laura O’Shea, her character titled simply ‘her’ meeting Tony Doyle, similarly titled ‘him,’ as they meet in a dark car on the side of a road in Ireland. The cinematography, done by Niall Coley, highlights the awkwardness of this clandestine meeting; but the script quickly takes over as we realize it’s personalities O’Shea and Doyle wish us to witness, not sex. 

What works about “Match” is that O’Shea and Doyle (who also co-wrote the project) write believable characters we can connect to. ‘She’ has a secret, and a reason as to why she’s meeting a man in a roadside car in the middle of the night; ‘He’ has a secret also – a reason why his phone won’t stop ringing and he wears a perpetual scowl on his face. “Match” is slow to piece apart why this is; but by the time it’s revealed, we’re hooked on the film’s characters and story. We care about what happens to these two, and we eagerly follow it along. 

The film takes place all at night, only its ending creeping towards dawn, and without much to work with in terms of camerawork, Coley paints the picture well. Some of my favorite shots include a closeup of the pair’s hands as they hold a coffee outside a darkened parking lot, or the lingering way the camera focuses on commonplace things such as car dashboards and dark stretches of road. Of course it’s helped that the whole thing is nuanced wonderfully by the sound design by Danilo Zambrano and a lovely track titled “Daylight Zone” by Taizo Audio. 

O’Shea and Doyle also cement their film in the locales of Ireland, filming “Match” at the Wicklow Mountains and in the Dublin City Centre. Doyle even plays with the film’s setting in a tongue-in-cheek, yet musing way: “Ireland’s nice sometimes, isn’t it?” he asks, staring at the mountains through his car windshield. Of course, it’s not Ireland he’s talking about but life, relationships, romance, love… On its underbelly, “Match” is very personal and soulful, which is not at all what you’d expect from its opening shots. 

All in all, “Match” is a solid effort by Doyle and O’Shea. It present real people in a real situation that we can know and understand. Its shots are nice, its soundtrack pleasant, and it ends in an ambiguous way that doesn’t betray its characters nor our investment in the film. “Match” is currently doing the festival circuit, and has already won an ‘Audience Award’ at the Richard Harris International Film Festival in Ireland. If you get the chance, this is a nice film that’s certainly worth the effort.