Following the death of his father, young Donal (Gleeson) inherits the family farm. Unfortunately Donal has no interest in agriculture; moreover he is almost wholly preoccupied with the five-knuckle shuffle. With his father no longer around, Donal is driven by his loneliness, grief and near total lack of social skills to arrange a meeting with call girl Kim (Gordon). Circumstances conspire to bring the two together and they begin both a relationship and a business partnership when Kim reveals her ambition to start her own brothel.
Sensation is a very black comedy that surprises and provokes in equal doses. The central conundrum of the film that both the audience and Donal are forced to question is the true nature of the relationship between the two leads. Is Kim exploiting Donal or vice versa? Are they actually in a romantic relationship or is it merely a business partnership? While the viewer is trying to figure out the enigmatic puzzle, Sensation also provides a fairly even-handed assessment of the sex industry. At first seeming murkily glamorous, the true, grim nature is slowly revealed through terrified young prostitutes, filthy old men and the moral degradation of the characters.
Though far from a masterpiece, Sensation is an entertaining film with an excellent tonal arc that spans from slyly smirk inducing to something altogether nastier. The actors are naturalistic and believable and writer-director Tom Hall proves more than capable at the helm. The film’s only real flaw is its slight predictability and that it doesn’t go quite far enough in its indictment of the sex industry.
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