After losing both of her parents to cancer, Megan Murphy decided to express her grief by flying to Ireland and travelling across 14 of its counties on her family’s revered Peugeot bicycle.

Newly discovered artifacts (including projector slides, photographs, and a journal) along with a recording of her late father Marty describing his trip to the Emerald Isle gave Megan the idea.  Call it spiritualism or a simple hunch, but experiencing her dad’s existential crisis through Marty’s soft-spoken recording and his 30-year-old journal entries allowed Megan to expand on her own perception of life.  She embarks on a 1500km journey in hopes to establish an even deeper connection with her loving father, but even within those expectations, Megan is unsure what will ensue before the Dingle Peninsula finish line.

Murphy’s Law is a heartwarming documentary lamenting and honouring an influential personal hero.  While Megan Murphy (who wrote, directed, and produced the doc) is very close and understandably emotional to her subject, she’s able to give movie goers a welcoming exhibit of someone who meant the world to her.  By the end of the film, the audience feels apart of Murphy’s family.

I also quickly caught on to a core strength Murphy herself may not even be aware of: her ability to completely tune out the production.  Megan is likeable with a cute sense of humour, and she keeps her mission focused at all times.  She walks the audience through what she’s feeling, but it’s never for the film’s purposes.  When she’s talking out loud, we sincerely feel like she has to get something off of her chest.  The camera could be removed and she’d probably still be having these conversations with herself.  An added bonus to this strength is that the audience never feels as if we’re prying on privacy.

Murphy’s Law will be premiering this Father’s Day weekend at Peterborough’s Showplace Performance Centre.  Saturday’s 7:00pm screening has already sold out, and a Sunday matinee at 2:00pm has only a few tickets available to purchase.  Act fast, skip the multiplex – you can catch Finding Dory and Central Intelligence any time – and treat your pop to this special flick.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie