What better way to mark St. Patrick's Day at the Rio Theatre than with an Irish movie night? We're teaming up with our friends at CelticFest Vancouver to present an evening of live, traditional Celtic music and a double bill featuring both the breakout 2024 hit musical comedy KNEECAP (Ireland's submission to the Oscars, and 6x BAFTA nominee), followed by the psychological drama BRING THEM DOWN (starring Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott, and Colm Meaney).

Starring Oscar-nominee Barry Keoghan (SALTBURN, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN) and Christopher Abbott (HBO's 'Girls,' POOR THINGS, SANCTUARY), BRING THEM DOWN is a tense and gripping thriller about two warring families set against the harsh landscape of rural west Ireland. When the ongoing rivalry between farmers Michael (Abbott) and Jack (Keoghan) suddenly escalates, it triggers a chain of events that take increasingly violent and devastating turns, leaving both families permanently altered.

From first-time filmmaker Christopher Andrews and co-starring Colm Meaney, Paul Ready and Nora-Jane Noone, this is a fierce, muscular debut that signals a bold new cinematic voice.

"'Bring Them Down' bristles with twists and tension, its gorgeous pastoral landscapes turning into sites of escalating violence. Yet the film never settles for simplistic hero/villain binaries. Instead, it brilliantly shifts perspective, revealing the fears and aspirations driving all its characters — a strategy that succeeds in no small part due to Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan, who share an incredible ability to reveal for the camera what their characters are hell-bent on hiding." (TIFF.net)

"A promising debut feature, especially for its playfully constructed script that turns the thriller genre inside-out to place real human feeling at its centre." (Cineuropa)

"A brutally violent directorial debut... veers between pitch-black humor and pervading melancholy." (Variety)

"I like having my soul slightly destroyed, and movies like Bring Them Down are just the tonic for what ails me." (Exclaim!)

Monday, March 17
Movie 8:45 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.

BRING THEM DOWN (Christopher Andrews, 2025 /105 min / 14A) When the ongoing rivalry between farmers Michael and Jack suddenly escalates, it triggers a chain of events that take increasingly violent and devastating turns, leaving both families permanently altered.