Pixie Hardy sets out to avenge her mother’s death and attempts a heist that will give her the means to leave her small-town life behind. When the plan goes horribly wrong, she’s forced to team up with a pair of misfits who are clearly in over their heads. On the run from a criminal gang of priests and nuns, the trio tries to scheme and swindle anyone they come across.
Pixie is a 2020 British comedy thriller film directed by Barnaby Thompson. The film stars Olivia Cooke, Ben Hardy, Daryl McCormack, Rory Fleck Byrne, Fra Fee, Turlough Convery, Chris Walley, Pat Shortt, Frankie McCafferty, Ned Dennehy, Alec Baldwin and Sebastian de Souza. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2020 by Paramount Pictures. It received mixed reviews from critics, while Cooke’s performance was praised.
About the Story
The film is set in the west of Ireland. It begins with Pixie paying a visit to her mother’s grave. She is seen talking about avenging her death and moving away to a faraway place. Meanwhile, somewhere else, we see two thugs Colin and Fergus, stopping outside a church. Colin talks about how her girl broke up with him over a guy named Tyrone.
Moments later, they go inside the church and steal a bag full of drugs from them at gunpoint. One priest tries to make a move which triggers a shout-out, leaving all the priests dead. Later, we see Pixie waiting at the airport for someone with a boarding pass for San Francisco. Meanwhile, Colin and Fergus are driving away from the robbery when Colin sees Fergus’s passport and discovers that he is Tyrone.
It’s revealed that Pixie is the girl Colin was talking about, and Fergus is the guy she is seeing now. In a fit of rage and envy, Colin shoots Fergus in the head and runs off with the drugs. Meanwhile, Pixie heads back home after not finding Fergus at the airport. Elsewhere, we see two chumpish best friends, Frank and Harland, at a bar. They see Pixie and start talking about her.
It appears that Pixie has a bit of a reputation for being a cunning seductress. Frank wants to make a move and hook up with her anyway. On the same night, the two friends pull over outside her home. Frank goes inside, while Harland waits outside. A bit later, Harland notices a furious Colin, carrying a gun and heading towards Pixie’s home. In a panic, Harland gives in to instincts and runs Colin over with his car.
Frank and Harland then hide the dead body in the trunk of their car. They find the drugs and decide to sell them off to rake in those big bucks. Pixie soon finds out about Fergus’ and connects the dots of missing drugs to the two friends. And so she goes to them, explaining how they’re in grave danger since those drugs belong to Father Hector. He is the gangster boss of all those gun-toting gangster priests. She then cunningly persuades the gullible friends into helping her recover her plan. The film from thereon follows her using manipulative and clever tactics to evade the dangerous and the fools.
We get to know a couple of things about Pixie’s cunning plan and her nature as the film moves forward. Through a flashback, we get to know that her mother was hospitalized due to stage IV cancer. But she was killed by a shady man before cancer could get her. Pixie picks up on the suspicious man but is unable to catch up to him.
Then she gets to know that man’s name through the visitor registry. The man was Jeremy Fisher, and later on, she finds out that it was an alias that Colin used. Later in the film, Colin, who was supposed to be dead after Harland ran him over, is alive. But Pixie makes sure to kill him this time. However, before she kills him, she learns that he was paid by her step-brother Mickey to kill her mom.
Pixie had planned to steal money from Hector’s church. She had roped in Fergus to help her with her plan and also kill Colin afterward. And being the cunning woman she is, she would have pushed the blame for Colin’s death on Fergus. But, as we know, things didn’t exactly pan out as she wanted them to be. Fergus gets skilled, and Colin runs off with the drugs. However, she is lucky to have the two smooth-brain chumps on her side.
Thus, she devises a new plan. We also learn that her step-father is a gangster who is a sworn enemy of Father Hector. During the climactic showdown between her step-father’s gang and Hector’s gang, she confronts Mickey. However, she doesn’t kill him and escapes with Harland and Frank.
Pixie (2020)
Directed by: Barnaby Thompson
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Ben Hardy, Daryl McCormack, Rory Fleck Byrne, Fra Fee, Turlough Convery, Chris Walley, Pat Shortt, Frankie McCafferty, Ned Dennehy, Alec Baldwin, Sebastian de Souza
Screenplay by: Barnaby Thompson
Production Design by: Nicola Moroney
Cinematography by: John de Borman
Film Editing by: Robbie Morrison
Costume Design by: Hazel Webb Crozier
Set Decoration by: Kevin McCabe
Art Direction by: Francis Taaffe
Music by: David Holmes, Gerry Diver
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language, drug content and some sexual references.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: October 23, 2020
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