Summary

The calm river surface breaks as CHARLIE emerges, clawing her way onto the riverbank. She is pregnant and is bloody and wounded. In the hospital, she gives birth to her baby prematurely while FRANCIS, the head of a vicious crime family, simultaneously learns to walk again after an attempt on his life.

BEERBELLY is a pulpy and violent revenge drama. The appeal is in its protagonist who scrapes from the bottom of poverty and desperation to make her voice heard. Think La Femme Nikita meets Breaking Bad.

Holding this together is Francis, the agoraphobic crime Lord with OCD who operates his business from an unknown location. Always watching and communicating through his brutal enforcers, respect gives way to fear as his violent legend precedes the man. How such legends form and are used to control the masses juxtaposes early religious leaders and how faith is a powerful tool.

Ambitious, rambunctious, mysterious and tense, Beerbelly is pacey with a nod to the shocking violence prevalent in the criminal underworld that it shines a light on, while staying grounded with realistic processes when it comes to car theft, rehabilitation and running a business. The characters are engrossing and the beautiful back drop of New Zealand gives both the perfect metaphor for the grandness of it’s scope, and the harrowing dissonance of the ugliness just below the surface.