Cast: Posy Sterling, Idil Ahmed, TerriAnn Cousins, Tegan-Mia Stanley Rhoads, Luke Howitt, Aliyah Abdi, Johanna Allitt
Genre: Drama
Director: Daisy-May Hudson
In Irish Cinemas: 13th June 2025
Daisy-May Hudson’s Lollipop is a raw and emotionally charged drama that oscillates between heartbreak and hope, centred on the tangled lives of two women, Mollie (played with searing intensity by Posy Sterling) and Amina (a radiant Idil Ahmed). Once inseparable childhood friends, they are unexpectedly reunited after years apart in a fleeting encounter that sets the stage for the story. Amina greets Mollie with open arms and an easy smile, exuding warmth and optimism. Mollie, on the other hand, keeps her distance — not out of apathy, but out of shame.
Their reunion occurs at an intensely vulnerable moment for Mollie. She’s on her way to a meeting with a social worker, a critical step in her uphill battle to regain custody of her children after recently being released from prison. Her reluctance to reconnect with Amina stems from the painful truth of her situation — she is caught in a system that judges her harshly, offering little in the way of compassion or support.
What unfolds is a grim yet compelling exploration of the modern welfare state, evoking the spirit of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake. Mollie is thrust into a bureaucratic maze designed less to rehabilitate than to discourage. Another impersonal form thwarts each attempt to move forward, another indifferent official, another cruel contradiction — most glaringly, the requirement that she secure stable housing before she can be reunited with her children, despite being told she’s ineligible for social housing until her family is back under her care.
The injustice of it all reaches a boiling point in a scene where a social worker blandly advises, “Keep pushing,” prompting Mollie to erupt in frustration: “Push where?!” It’s a moment that encapsulates the film’s fury and hopelessness — a cry against a system more preoccupied with procedure than people.
Sterling’s performance is magnetic, anchoring the film with a vulnerable, unflinching portrayal of a woman pushed to her emotional limits. The camera clings to her, often in tight close-up, bearing witness to every flicker of doubt, shame, and quiet resilience. It’s a performance that elevates the film even in its rougher patches.
Lollipop doesn’t shy away from its messaging — at times, it practically shouts. Hudson opts for emotional immediacy over subtlety, which can result in moments that feel blunt or overly scripted. It lacks the nuanced layering of A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, a film that tackles similar themes with more stylistic sophistication. Still, when Lollipop hits its mark, the impact is undeniable. It’s a story of struggle and survival, of systems failing the very people they claim to serve — but it’s also a story of friendship, endurance, and the fragile hope that things can get better.
Overall: 7.5/10
Movie Reviewer
