Now I’ve seen a lot of different genres and homages to genres in my time, but this is a first: I’ve never seen a Welsh Western before, much less imagined one which managed to add in more than a few elements of (dark) comedy. The Toll (not to be confused with last year’s Russian horror film of the same title) takes place in Pembrokeshire, the place where ‘the English go to die’, according to some welcoming graffiti. And, in true Western style, we appear to kick off with a confessional. Catrin (Annes Elwy) is a police officer in this quiet part of Wales where, ordinarily, there’s very little to do. That’s until she’s summoned to hear what the local toll booth operator – in true Welsh style, known by the same name as his profession, for the most part – has to tell her.
‘Toll Booth’ (Michael Smiley) has had quite a busy day, taking in a robbery, a chance encounter with an old affiliate whose criminal firm has been looking for him for thirty years, and having to fit this little lot around what would seem to be a thriving, if illegal enterprise of his own. Catrin, firstly, has to come to terms with the fact that a hell of a lot has been going on under her nose, and that her patch isn’t as remote as it might seem. Oh, and then there’s the small matter of the Morgan triplets (Gwyneth Keyworth x3) who have designs on a life of crime of their own, and need to be stopped before they Instagram themselves into a lot of trouble; think Spring Breakers on the Pembroke coast, balaclavas and all.
At first, I did find the timeline in The Toll quite confusing, and this is as a consequence of its ambitions in terms of its structure: it’s always a bit of a gamble, and as the script refers to this confusion itself at a couple of points, writer Matt Redd and director Ryan Andrew Hooper are clearly aware of that. It does begin to knit together nicely, though, and although it meanders, it adds in enough fun developments and makes enough connections to hold interest. There’s a great cast, with a few of the stalwarts of the British film scene – Steve Oram, Smiley, Gary Beadle, Julian Glover – though for me, the funniest interplay is between Paul Kaye as Cliff and Iwan Rheon as Dom. In the case of Rheon, it’s good to see him playing, if another rogue, a likeable rogue this time, with a lot of warmth to him. The film also captures the rhythms and subtleties of Welsh conversation, which is great to hear – even if, by the same token, the screenplay can’t resist a dig at the English and a comment about non-Welsh speakers; these are constants, it seems, an otherwise uncertain world. However, elsewhere, good characters and characterisation generate some genuinely funny moments – these can be physical, light-touch or even a bit crude, but they all work together.
The Western elements aren’t simply here at the start of the film, either: The Toll keeps at it, overlaying a Western-style soundtrack over the cliffs and hills of Wales, alluding openly to Westerns in a few scenes and of course, heading towards a big pay-off before the film is over. Does it have to do a fair bit to justify its big pay-off? Yeah, but overall it hangs together well, and it manages a couple of additional surprises before the credits roll. At just an hour and twenty minutes, The Toll pitches things right: it feels as though there’s a lot going on, but actually, this is an economical film, one which tells an interesting yarn in an entertaining way. If there’s to be any more Welsh Western crime drama comedies, I’d happily watch them.
The Toll (2021) featured as part of the WOW Film Festival in March 2021. For more information, click here.