My Irish film Awards for 2012

2012 has been a very good year for Irish film. It has been some time since I can remember so many releases in the cinema and indeed such positive reviews. There have been some trends that have yet to go away such as wildly over praising some films just because they are not bad. What is needed in film criticism for Irish film is the exact same approach to film criticism for films of any country. We need to forget where they are from and fairly assess the film based on merit. This really should be happening all the time but alas, it is not. There are too many extremes of opinion going from over praise to burying a film. The middle ground surely has to be the hope for 2013.

In looking at my favourite Irish films of 2012 I have to say that I did not get to see everything that was released in cinemas. The two major misses were Dollhouse and Death of a Superhero which came and went too quickly. I intend to see and review both as soon as possible. If they are good enough I will revise this list as appropriate. Without further ado, here are my favourite Irish films of 2012.

Best Irish Film of 2012 Award – Silence

And so it was in early August I headed to the Lighthouse cinema to see a film I knew very little about. 90 minutes later I came out reeling from the pure power of Pat Collins’s film. It is the story of Eoghan (Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhride) who comes back to Ireland for a job involving recording landscapes free from man-made sound. This is the jumping off point for a magnificent journey into memory, exile and the soil, the beating heart of a country left behind. The further Eoghan travels away from sounds, the closer we come to understanding his need to reconnect to the land he left behind. This is a mesmerising film, full of stunning landscapes and interesting people and stories. Ultimately, it is a journey to within: burrowing into the dark heart of emigration and our need to understand who we are and where we come from. This is not only the best Irish film of 2012 but one of the best films of 2012 full stop.

The Return of the King Award – Lenny Abrahamson for What Richard Did

The return of Lenny Abrahamson to cinemas was celebrated with the release of What Richard Did. This was a rich and rewarding glimpse into a world I had not seen on screen before: namely the young and affluent set on the Southside of Dublin. The story is well known so I won’t go into detail here. Suffice to say that it is loosely based around the Club Annabel killing in 2001. This is the kind of film that Ireland should be making. What should be celebrated here is something which has been rarely seen in Irish film, namely a contemporary drama with confidence and flair and a belief in what it is doing. Abrahamson’s next film stars Michael Fassbender. Stardom and Hollywood surely awaits. But on a purely selfish note, there is a hope that he will stay and make films in Ireland for many years to come.

The Debut from Hell Award – Charlie Casanova

Here was a film that got people talking. And arguing. Not to mention public spats between director Terry Mc Mahon and film critic Donald Clairke. Charlie Casanova was a film that made people uneasy. A lot didn’t like it as a film (perfectly acceptable) but there were also people who seemed to take great offense at someone putting out a film that was as aggressive and unlikeable but also successful at getting distribution and advertising. Who do they think they are? This was a film that was hard to love but easy for this reviewer to admire. Charlie Casanova, I believe, is a film whose stature will increase as the years go by. Its message is one that is too hard to take right now. It also has one of the best central performances of the year in Emmett Scanlon. It is not a perfect film but it is unforgettable, bleak, unsettling and as impressive a low budget debut as I have seen.

The Why didn’t it Make Billions Award – Grabbers

Back at the beginning of the year I did a post about 5 Irish films to see in 2012. When talking about Grabbers I said that it would be likely to be the most financially successful of the films on the list. The premise should have had people flowing to the cinema. A comedy horror set on an island off Ireland in which alcohol had a big part to play, this looked like it couldn’t miss. But audiences in Ireland seemed underwhelmed. This is a real pity as Grabbers is one of the most purely enjoyable Irish films in years. Featuring a very funny script by Kevin Lehane, great direction by Jon Wright and superb special effects for such a low budget this is a film that now seems tailor made for a cult run on DVD.

There were films that were co funded by the Irish Film Board that came out this year such as Shadow Dancer and This Must be the Place. To be honest I was left a bit underwhelmed by both although they were interesting choices for funding. I was not a fan of Albert Nobbs either, finding it dull. Honourable mentions for 2012 include the The Other Side of Sleep and Stella Days. Two films which have played throughout the year at festivals but will not have a general release until 2013 are Citadel and Pilgrim Hill. I have heard good things about both. They will be covered in more detail in a future article about Irish films in 2013.

Film Review - Charlie Casanova (2012)

When discussing Irish films it can be informative to look at the era in which the films are released and the state of the nation at that particular time. During the Celtic Tiger era for example there was a run of frothy films (When Brendan Met Trudy, About Adam, Goldfish Memory) that showed a Dublin alive with charming rich people, sipping espressos without a care in the world. These films seemed to say that we have finally made it - we have a highly desirable capital city to live in. We had fancy coffee, Michelin star restaurants, even sunshine. It was all there on the screen so it had to be true.

In reality it was not. I grew up in Coolock in the 1980s and 1990s and I can say with some certainty that the Celtic Tiger passed us by. There should have been more anger then from the disenfranchised but there was not. The working class stood idly by and watched successive governments have ‘giveaway’ budgets, cynical cash-ins to ensure another term. We got to press our faces against real estate windows and look at houses we could never afford to buy. It was Dublin in the rare old times only for the ruling class and we had the films to match. These were films for ‘them’.

So years later, in the midst of the worst economic conditions for at least a generation, where are the films to reflect our anger at the downturn? We have had very little in this regard. One Hundred Mornings (probably correctly) seemed to be saying that the collapse of society will happen in a very quiet way without the usual associated film hysterics. But Charlie Casanova is coming at us from the aggressive end of the spectrum. This is an angry film with an angry central character from a very angry writer and director. There is something admirable in an uncompromising film as a concept. But all the anger in the world is worthless if you don’t have a film to sell and the question is thus: does Charlie Casanova stand up on its own terms?

The answer to this is a resounding yes, but it is a film not without problems. Charlie Casanova tells the story of Charlie Barnham who after hitting a woman in a working class neighbourhood with his car, lets a deck of cards decide her fate. Emboldened by the way he has seemingly got away with it, Charlie bullies his wife and friends into letting the cards make decisions for them, with some strange and tragic circumstances. Charlie takes these kinds of risks with increasing dangers for all involved as his life starts to spiral out of control. In plot terms, that is about it. The story is punctuated with some extraordinary set pieces including two darkly funny scenes involving an improv comedy set and an interview in a Garda station. In between the gallows humour are lengthy diatribes about men not being men and the ruling classes taking back the streets from the despised working class.

The film works best in the first hour. The use of a fractured narrative serves it well here. There is some wonderful cinematography by Eoin Macken, capturing everything in wonderfully grubby and intense close ups. There is simply nowhere else to look as the intimate events unfold. There is a brutally sad but quietly tender scene in a bath that is captured beautifully by Macken. The hotel that they stay in is has a soulless empty feeling, echoing empty businesses around the country. The building of tension in the first hour is expertly done and it does implode after the comedy improv. It is here that the film goes off the rails. Pacing becomes an issue here as the film slows down and the seams start to show. Thankfully the film rebounds with a chilling last 10 minutes. There is a wonderful final shot that is held for quite a long time that destroys any notion of a traditional sense of closure.

Emmet Scanlon is terrific in the title role. He is in virtually every scene and carries the film all the way. There has been criticism of his rantings as some sort of cod philosophy but surely that is the point. Charlie is an educated fool, a half baked car salesman whose opinions should be dismissed as such. Scanlon gets into his character to show the heartless monster beneath the confident exterior. The supporting cast are good and do quite a bit with somewhat underwritten roles.

Charlie Casanova is not a film for everyone. It is a tough watch - in your face from the first moment. There is plenty of room for a confrontational film in our film history and is a refreshing departure from the standard. With the reported miniscule budget it should also be inspirational to the next generation of filmmakers, letting them know that personal films, can be made, advertised and released regardless of budget. This has not really happened before with much success. Even if you don’t like the film this is surely a good thing for our industry. This is a film whose message on class and politics will become more important in the years to come as Ireland continues to devour itself and the working classes bear the brunt stoically as ever. That is a pretty good legacy for an Irish film to have.

5 Irish films you must see this year

Everyone knows about the big films in Ireland. Generally they know about the ones with stars such as Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne (although somewhat less so in recent years) or Brendan Gleeson in them. This is not said to disparage their work, more to highlight the difficulties faced by lower budget films or films by lesser known filmmakers to get noticed here. I thought it might be interesting to take a look at 5 films that I am personally interested in seeing this year that you may or may not have heard of yet. These all have the potential to break out and become a hit. Indeed there is much buzz on the festival circuit about some of these films already that it seems likely that at least one two of them might have a decent run at the box office. This to some degree is the whole philosophy behind writing this blog, to try and raise awareness of the types of films that the general public may not usually get to see in any given year. Of note about these films is that there is a dark and hopeless feeling to most which may well reflect the times we live in at this moment.

1. Citadel

This barren and apocalyptic vibed horror received its world premiere at the prestigious SXSW film festival in Austin, Texas. It has now won the best Irish first feature at the Galway Film Fleadh and the best film award at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival Filmed on location in Glasgow and Dublin, Ciaran Foy’s film tells the story of a housing estate abandoned by society and the young people left there who have turned feral. They kidnap a young girl and are relentlessly pursued by her father. The film looks ferocious and from the trailer it looks like it cost a bit more than it actually did. Irish people may be interested in a film that intentionally or otherwise reflects our society. Maybe a reflection of our very own ghost estates anyone?

Citadel - Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: The Citadel (film), James Cosmo

2. Limp

This is a film that really interests me. Perhaps the least known of the films on the list but with a trailer as good as this it surely won’t stay that way for long. Directed by Shaun Ryan and staring Eoin Quinn, Limp tells the story of a relationship told through the eyes of a man whose brain has been diseased by loneliness and isolation. A film that has the potential to be that rarity for Irish film these days: a contemporary dark adult drama for a grown up audience. If it lives up to the beautiful trailer, this could be something special. It is expected to be released during the Summer of 2012.

'Limp' Trailer. from Jack Shepherd. on Vimeo.

3. Dollhouse

Ok, so most of you will have heard of Kirsten Sheridan. She is not exactly an unknown in the film world. But her film, set in contemporary Dublin, recently showed at the Berlin Film Festival and marks it as one to look out for. A story of a home invasion by a gang of crazed youths, Sheridan’s film looks set to be big this year. Sheridan is an interesting filmmaker, with Disco Pigs establishing her as such. She was also nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay for In America. Already doing interesting things in Ireland with the setting up of The Factory in Dublin it looks like Dollhouse could be a successful film for her this year.

4. Charlie Casanova

Regular readers of my blog will know that Charlie Casanova featured on my 10 reasons to be optimistic in 2012 blog piece. The terrific trailer and the confident and aggressive feel of the film made me sit up and take notice. This rarely happens for films made in Ireland. Cinema distribution has already been secured in the UK and Ireland. Premiering at the SXSW festival last year before winning awards at the Galway Film Fleadh and then nominated at the IFTAs, Charlie Casanova has the potential to be a hit, but also the potential to divide audiences. And with most films playing it safe in the current climate, this is no bad thing.

5. Grabbers

This film is perhaps best set to be a big international hit when it comes out. Set on the fictional Erin Island off the coast of Ireland, the very witty premise of a town of people who have to be drunk to survive an alien monster invasion is just too good. The wonderfully silly reason is that their blood will be so toxic from the alcohol that they won’t be eaten. Grabbers looks set to carry on the fine tradition of horror comedies such as Tremors and that is no bad comparison to be made. It premiered in Sundance this year and already seems destined to be a cult classic. Released in cinemas in Ireland August 10th.

This is my list. Now it is over to you. Please let me know if any other Irish films out there have your pulses racing this year.