This joyous and heartrending piece of ’90s nostalgia does exactly what great dramas should, it makes you both laugh and cry in equal measure and – spoiler alert – you will cry.

In 1994, 23-year-old Vinny, who’s Dad walked out on him and his mum years ago, has spent his entire life in troubles-blighted Enniskillen, Northern Ireland; he just wants out. The problem is, he can never save enough to leave, and nights on the town with his best pal and habitual raver Jonty don’t help. When the boys are offered the chance to spend one night unloading stolen pills in exchange for a life changing sum, they can’t say no despite the obvious dangers.

While this is a fairly standard premise, the backdrop of the Troubles and the sectarian divide in which the boys exist give this drama a constant edge. The narrative moves seamlessly between social commentary, acid house, and relationship drama all knit together with a well thought out and logical plot that suspends audience disbelief to the most gratifying point and no further.

From the opening it’s hard not to be drawn in by Jack Rowan (Noughts + Crosses) who plays Vinny, with his sulky intelligent features. You immediately forgive what might have been a cliched voice over. It’s proof that there’s nothing wrong with voice over if you do it right.

Jonty (Chris Walley) is the comedian to Vinny’s straight man, the manic rhythm to Vinny’s steady beat, and that friend who always gets him into trouble. Added to this endearing pair, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell (Derry Girls) plays Vinny’s friend/love interest Eileen, and Hope Ikpoku Jnr is Wilson, a black squaddie from the RUC who manages to bridge the divide and strike a friendship with the young Catholics. The vibrant cast are held together with a 90s dance scene soundtrack full of classics from Elastica to The Prodigy.

The film manages to be about more than one thing while holding a tight narrative line: Vinny’s relationship with his estranged father; the injustice of war; ’90s rave culture. Vinny and Jonty are representative of many of those born during the Troubles, they don’t want to take either side, they just want to be left alone to live their lives, safely. Ultimately, the film is about the injustice of war, the importance of forgiveness and the universal rights of every human. People who were Vinny’s age in 1994 are middle-aged now, their children having grown up in a mostly peaceful Northern Ireland, but the plight of the civilians caught up in war is a universal theme and very much speaks to other parts of the world today, making the film strikingly and unexpectedly resonant.

The script is written by Ciaran McMenamin, adapted from his own novel and highlighting this writer’s immense skill and objectivity in taking his own prose narrative and turning it into an enjoyable and cogent, visual story perfect for the big screen. Director Kieron J. Walsh has years of experience behind him directing TV and Shorts. The film was able to source finance from both the UK and Ireland, and this is reflected in the quality.

The script is sharp, the directing proficient and the cast stuffed full of talent. There’s plenty of tough material: drug taking, and strong language, and racism and the bloody toll of war on innocent civilians, but there’s little wrong with this film and it should have been EIFF’s opener this year.

Screened as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival