Tin Castle      Director: Alexander MurphyCert: NoneStarring: Pa' O’Reilly, Lisa O’Reilly, Sean O’Reilly, Paddy O’Reilly, Chantelle O’Reilly, Tina O’Reilly, Maggie O’Reilly, Willy O’Reilly, Jimmy O’Reilly, Martin-Anthony O’Reilly, Scarlett-Rose O’Reilly, Mackenzie O’ReillyRunning Time: 1 hr 46 minsThis touching documentary about an indomitable family of Irish Travellers has about it the feel of a requiem. Kevin O’Leary and Mathias Levy Valensi’s lovely score, which pounds a familiar theme, adds to the sense that we’re drifting towards an inevitable closure. The O’Reilly clan themselves will surely endure, but the film suggests their way of life is in danger. Pa’, Lisa and their 10 children, battered by the elements in their rickety mobile home, are forever up against this or that. The generator has failed. Pa’ is facing jail time. The authorities are circling with brochures of show homes. Here is an essential record of a culture on the brink.Alexander Murphy’s picture, premiering at the prestigious Critics’ Week strand at Cannes, promotes a vision of the Traveller experience that is agreeable without being romantic. The staggering inconveniences will nag at viewers throughout. How does a family of 12 sleep in one mobile home? What offence has Pa’ committed? These questions are politely skirted for an often gorgeous engagement with life lived close to nature: trotting horses along summer roads, helping a nursing dog with her pups, picnicking in brisk sunlight.Tin Castle is also, however, brave enough to touch on country pursuits with which not every wrapped-up urban cinemagoer will be comfortable. The scenes of hunting rabbits at night with dogs remind us that the family still lives close to blood and mud. The director’s own camerawork is discreet when indoors and open to damp beauty when in the natural world.What makes the film really sing is the untampered, generous humanity of the subjects. The children live as most others now don’t. But they remain connected to popular culture, briefly enacting an improvised Barbie play that would warm Greta Gerwig’s heart. Although it’s in the fly-on-the-wall tradition, Tin Castle is also open to bravura shots. One striking sequence, filmed from a camera looking backwards as it speeds away from Pa’ following in a trap, perfectly captures how destiny may be outpacing this hard-grafting family.