Firstly, I am shocked that this has no reviews but then I saw after the fact that this was a film festival entry,
Its not about pool but about a game I had heard of called Keno and honestly thought was a card game so I mention pool in the title as if you like films Pool/snooker based, you will like this film.
Its darker than the other obvious entries in this genre, I wont list them all, if you are reading, you likely know them, from the hustler, colour of money etc.
This is not like those, this has a story that's a bit more violent although there isn't a lot of actual violence in the film, its spoken about but not really seen.
It can be a little rough around the edges, a couple of parts of the plot are rushed, I think its because the storyline is too much for the time allowed, 2 hours felt like 4 hours but in a good way because it crams quite a lot within the time story wise.
On the whole the acting was good, there was the odd moment where things didn't quite seem fitting for certain characters but not enough to take away the enjoyment.
The story itself, no spoilers, I found the plot early on to be a little predictable as to where it was heading but not overtly so, I have seen so many films and after a while you can predict to an extent, the average film goer will likely not predict like I did, that's not any kind of boast, its just an experience thing that comes from watching way too many films.
If you like sport/gambling films and like them combined with a thriller element of which I personally have never seen combined so well, this really will be enjoyable for you, the actual pool shots are somewhat limited but what there are of them aren't totally amateurish like some sports films where the actors clearly have had no skill or training in the actual sport, in this case Pool/Keno, the players do "play" like they can but this is not the film to watch if that's all you want to see, great shots, long games etc.
I think this will go down as a cult classic gem of a movie that sadly will never get the audience it deserves.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, I would give an 8/10 if it wasn't for the few slight... not negatives,, but points I have made,
To finish, I have a tendency to rate films 1 star lower than the actual IMDB rating, maybe I am a harsh critic I dont know? But worth pointing out as while I rate this a 7, I would also say it falls in the 7-8 range based on this, but then again in this particular case I have rated slightly higher than the IMDB rating, probably because of my bias, this kind of film is my genre.... so take all of this as subjective as any reviews should be, and thank you to all involved in this film. I went in with low expectations and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Sorry for rambling, I am quite passionate about good films that clearly have not garnered the attention I believe they deserve.
