In 2007 actor Paddy Considine wrote and directed a short film called Dog Altogether, starring Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman. As it turned out it was to act as a nucleus for Considine's directorial feature debut, which finally surfaced last year.

Rage – that's what boils deep inside Joseph (Mullen), and with the help of the demon drink, there's even more chance for it to erupt into a violent act. It looks like very little in his life is going to change in the near future either. With his wife dead now for five years, Joseph has fallen into a familiar destructive cycle.

It's his rage inside that leads him to meet charity worker Hannah (Colman), as he runs into her shop to hide from the world behind a railing of donated clothes. If anyone has the power to save him, surely it's someone with great faith in the almighty? But some people just can't be saved, however hard you try. Still, with Joseph becoming a regular visitor to the shop, they do develop a curious relationship, which it seems that they both, rather strangely, gather strength from.

But as Joseph gets to know more about Hannah, the more he learns that her own world isn't particularly rosy. As it turns out her husband James (Eddie Marsen) is also a nasty piece of work.

It doesn't take Joseph long to understand that he's not the only poor soul that needs saving.

I'm just letting you know that if that tie doesn't bring out the blue in my eyes, I'm likely to get very upset indeed.

It's safe to say that Considine has jumped into the deep end for his first film. It's a brutal piece that examines the broken lives of its hopeless characters. Colman, who does so well doing fluffy on TV (Peep Show and more recently with Rev., really makes a thoroughly dramatic stand as Hannah. And Marsen, who has his fair share of unlikeable characters on his acting CV, pulls off yet another despicable turn.

It's Mullen who really manages to keep you on the edge of your seat however. Joseph has an almost extreme bi-polar element about him that makes it difficult to predict how he's going to react to whatever situation is placed in front of him.

Considine, who also wrote the film, does well to maintain the constant barrage of grittiness throughout, as well as offer a thin layer of well-needed optimism, just to make you through it in one piece. He also impresses with the fact that he made an exceptionally assured and impressive debut, despite its bleakness. Or maybe it's because of it, it's difficult to tell.

It may not offer much by way of a silver lining, but as unflinching dramas go – with some exceptional performances – they don't come much better than this.