It’s the summer following their senior year of high school, and three Dublin teenagers/friends—underachiever Matthew Connolly (Dean-Charles Chapman, 1917, Game of Thrones), nihilist Rez (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Vikings, Sing Street), and delinquent Joseph Kearney (Finn Cole, Animal Kingdom, Peaky Blinders)—are trying to figure out what to do with their lives. When the young men witness a horrible accident, it affects them all in different ways, sending them off spiraling in different directions, changing their lives and friendships forever.

The story centers around Matthew, the most well-adjusted one of the trio. At his exit interview, Headmaster Landerton (Ralph Ineson), notes that Matthew has grown into a respectable young man, but cautions that he be careful with his life’s choices. He knows that the other boys (especially Kearney) could easily lead him down the wrong path. Upon witnessing the accident, Matthew starts to see how precious and fleeting life can be, and wants to make something of himself, getting a job and trying to make things work with his crush Jen (Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit), who shares a mutual attraction with Matthew, though neither has ever acted upon it. Meanwhile, Rez finds that he feels nothing after the accident, and starts to question why that is the case, and what the purpose of life is. However, Kearney is the one most affected by the accident, and not in a good way. Kearney had already been a bit of a delinquent, expelled from school before graduation, and has it out for the the headmaster. However, instead of sorrow, the accident actually gave him a sense of joy, power and excitement, awakening a darker side of his personality. As he explores this new side of himself, Kearney tries to pull his friends into his dark, sadistic games, becoming even more of a bad influence on them. Despite Matthew’s attempts to lead a better life, Kearney seems to always be there trying to lead him astray.

Here Are The Young Men is not told in a completely straightforward way, utilizing the surreal to help tell the story and show what’s going on in the boys’ heads. This is most often seen in Kearney’s story. As Kearney watches a trashy talk show on TV, it seems to come to life in his mind, with the TV presenter (Travis Fimmel, Vikings) interviewing him about his own life and dark desires. Kearney looks up to this bizarre host as a role model, the father figure he wishes he had, and the man he wants to be. Kearney is constantly doing things and telling stories in order to seek the presenter’s approval as well as that of his studio audience. The host becomes like the devil on his shoulder, giving Kearney the attention he craves and encouraging him to follow the darker ideas that pop into his head. This ultimately leads Kearney to decide to visit his brother in America, where, as he claims, the women are easy and want to be dominated, and where one can literally get way with murder—a place where he can unleash the beast and explore the baser side of himself. The other guys also see odd messages on their TVs, but for Matthew, it is Kearney, constantly trying to talk him into doing bad things, and for Rez, it’s odd jingles that just further his feelings of emptiness. Matthew also finds himself plagued by odd flashbacks of the accident and other nightmare visions of the future, and starts to question what is real or not. He also grows suspicious of Kearney and the bad things he may have done, and struggles with what he should do. This all starts to affect his relationship with Jen.

The story takes place over the three month summer break, but in some ways it feels much longer. It is a coming of age story of how these three young men find themselves—for better or for worse—after witnessing a tragic accident, and how this event changes their lives and friendships forever. In some ways, it’s a bit of a Stand By Me tale, though with a more modern setting and more sinister turn of events. The cast has great chemistry, and really do feel like longtime friends, and Anya Taylor-Joy is always a delight. However, there is this palpable tension with Kearney. He is an unhinged and unpredictable character, who is certainly some kind of deranged sociopath. There is this constant question of what he’s capable of and what he might do. Matthew opens the film with his narration where he says that this is the summer after they finished school, the summer of freedom, when you become a man, and that’s what the story is about—these boys growing up and discovering themselves, and for Matthew especially, learning to love, and to step up and and do what is right, and not allow himself to be influenced by the Kearneys of the world.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds quite good. This is a grittier looking film, but sometimes lacks a bit of clarity. However, this definitely felt like the look the filmmakers were going for rather than a limitation of the presentation. There are several scenes were characters are drunk and/or high and out of it, and the presentation captures this in a way that helps the viewer experience the world through their eyes. Here the audio track is also used quite effectively to help convey that sense of disorientation. Sometimes during the party scenes the soundtrack can get a bit aggressive and drown out some of the dialogue, but at the same time, the music sounds excellent and fills the room. Unfortunately, the disc doesn’t contain any bonus material except for the film’s trailer. The character of Matthew opens up the film with his narration, saying “This is a real story, these things happened”. I would have loved to have heard some explanation of this statement, as well as a take on some of the more surreal moments of the film.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:36:06)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Stereo
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:
All trailers play back-to-back once one is selected.

• Trailer (1:45)
• Previews
  • The Paper Tigers (2:30)
  • Synchronic (2:24)
  • Better Days (1:26)

Final Thoughts:

Here Are The Young Men is a coming of age drama about three young men trying to find themselves during their summer after high school, and how their outlooks on life are changed following witnessing a tragic accident. The filmmakers do a nice job of building the relationships and tension between the characters over the course of the movie, culminating in the final act. There is some odd surreal storytelling that I didn’t quite get—I wish the release had included some kind of bonus material discussing this. However, the disc’s presentation is solid and fans of the cast will want to check this out.