The danger in compiling a list like
this is that there is a possibility of leaving out a film that is glaringly
obvious. The only way to be fair is to not call the list the 10 best Irish
films ever made. There is something reductive about articles that definitive.
Film preferences are a deeply personal thing, completely subjective and there
really is no right answer to the best ever. This list below comprises of my
favourite Irish films. But I must stress that it is my top 10 films that I have seen. There may well be a
film just around the corner that will explode into my favourites list and bump
one of these out. In fact I am sure of that. There are still a lot of Irish
films I have still to see or re-visit in some instances.
The main reason for doing this is to
stir up some feeling about our national cinema. If you forcefully disagree with
my choices, let me know. I want the whys and wherefores. I even want the ‘you
don’t know what you are talking about’ comment if someone can give me
alternative titles and a reason for their inclusion. All film fans in Ireland have a
huge part to play in how we view our own films and how much exposure they get.
The more we see now the more we will see in the future. It is about economics
and bums on seats. The more we debate our cinema and how much it means to us
(or not and why not) the more predisposed we will be towards Irish films in
general. This may be overly optimistic but why not be optimistic for a change. Anyway
here are my favourites. They are from 10 to 1 but the order is somewhat
arbitrary as it changes with my mood.
10. The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Ken Loach’s Palme D’Or winning film
about the struggle for Irish independence is a film more about tone and emotion
than it is about visual representations of violence. This isn’t sensational and
it isn’t a thriller. It is a fraught and angry film that dares to make every
bullet count. There are moral ramifications for the murders that take place
here. Every death counts. Cillian Murphy’s character asks at one point ‘whether
this Ireland of ours will be worth it?’. This gets to the heart of a very
philosophical film. How much violence, if any, can be justified for a
particular cause? It is an important question in an important film.
9. What Richard Did
Lenny Abrahamson makes his first
appearance on this list with his latest film. Anchored by a career making
performance by Jack Reynor as the titular Richard, Abrahamson explores in the
most naturalistic way that difficult transition into adulthood for young teens in
Dublin. With a terrific script by Malcolm Campbell and beautiful camerawork,
this is a world expertly drawn without missing a beat. The pivotal moment is
captured in a disturbingly beautiful way and its aftermath is dealt with
sensitively and with great filmic skill. Abrahamson is surely about to make it
big on the world stage. Let us hope he continues to focus on Ireland as well as
there is not a filmmaker that comes close to capturing as it is warts and all.
8. The Crying Game
Neil Jordan’s Oscar winning film is
one that can be mulled over for quite a bit of time. It starts off as one film
and by the end becomes quite another. It is a tribute to Jordan’s really strong
screenplay that it all gels together so well. It is a story about a kidnapped
British soldier, which becomes a love story, which turns everything on its
head. There is a big reveal in the middle which sums up the film for some
people but the film is so much more than that. Jordan can be a frustratingly
indifferent filmmaker but when he is on form he is a brilliant one. Between this and The Butcher Boy Jordan has secured his place as one of Ireland's great filmmakers.
7. Silence
Acclaimed documentarian Pat Collins’
Silence is a film that came from
nowhere with practically no advertising and blew me away. Silence is the story of Eoghan, a sound recordist living in Berlin who
accepts a job back home in Ireland to document the countryside away from manmade
sounds. This a feature film with a beguiling documentary feel, full of haunting
and beautiful images of landscapes. For all the beautiful images on show this
is really about the feeling inside, an urge to reconnect with a land and a life
left behind. As Eoghan moves further and further away from civilisation he
moves closer to where he hails from. This is his journey home. And what a
stunning and moving journey it is. Silence
is not just one of the best Irish films in 2012 but one of the best films of
2012 period.
6. Adam and Paul
Lenny Abrahamson’s film is quite
frankly an unexpected joy. It is a film that came out of nowhere to confound an
audience ready to jump on another clichéd story about drug addicts. But Adam and Paul is so much more. There is humour in the darkest of places. There is even
an element of hope that bursts through on occasion. But what is most impressive
is how humanistic the film is. This is a very timely reminder that the drug
addicts on our street who we look at in disgust and mistrust are people and
victims. We should care more. It is a beautiful and heartfelt film, that most wonderful of things: a melancholic joy.
5. My Left Foot
Jim Sheridan’s beautiful biopic of
Dublin writer Christy Brown is a joy to behold. With Oscar winning performances
by Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker, Sheridan tells in turn a warm and caustic
tale. It is a compassionate film,
celebrating a unique story without sentimentality but with plenty of warmth. A
critical and commercial success, My Left
Foot arguably brought the Irish film industry into the international arena
for the first time. This is a deeply humane film which Sheridan has yet to
better.
4. The Butcher Boy
Neil Jordan’s dark and profane
adaptation of Pat Mc Cabe’s novel is a wonderful achievement. Told by
unreliable and troubled teenager Francie Brady, this film is an explosion of
anger, grief, isolation and pop culture. It is also a social critique of small
town Ireland
in the 1950s. There are some wonderful performances from actors such as Jordan
regular Stephen Rea and a wonderful Fiona Shaw as Francie’s nemesis Mrs Nugent.
Add Sinead O’ Connor as a spiky Virgin Mary and it pretty much sums up the tone
of this film.
3. The Dead
John Huston's final film is a mesmerising adpatation of James Joyce's story from his Dubliners collection. Starring Donal Mc Cann and Angelica Huston the film is set at a dinner at a beautiful Dublin home in 1904. It is a tale of death and its inevitability. Shot with a wonderful intimacy by Huston although never intrusive, the film is elegant and very moving. There is humour to be had (the wonderful Donal Donnelly as the n'er do well Freddie Malins) but it is the singing of a particular song that stirs up some old emotions that leads the film to its extraordinary ending. There is terrific acting by the entire cast with particular mention to the truly missed Donal Mc Cann as Gabriel. This is a film that demands to be seen as fitting tribute to a great filmmaker.
2. Hunger
This film is a tour de force of
acting and directing from the start. Michael Fassbinder plays Bobby Sands on
hunger strike in the 1980s. Director Steve Mc Queen uses this as a springboard
to make a film about the appalling dehumanising of the human spirit in prison.
There is an audacious unbroken 15 minute scene in the film that is mesmerising
and Mc Queen does not shy away from showing the horrors of prison life.
Fassbinder is spellbinding as Sands with great support from Liam Cunningham as
the priest. Harsh, brutal and moving Hunger is a towering achievement in Irish film.
1. Garage
There are some films on the list
that on the surface tackle more important issues and weightier themes. But for
me, there are none that come near to achieving the devastating emotional impact
of Garage. It is a deceptively simply
story of a simple man, Josie (Pat Short, astonishing), who looks after a garage
in a small town in Ireland and his friendship with a local boy who comes to
work with him. But Josie is lonely, heartbreakingly so, and his efforts at
making connections are fraught with tension and pity. To say more of the plot
would ruin the effect of the film. Suffice to say Mark O’ Halloran and Lenny
Abrahamson have fashioned a film of beautiful intensity, by turns funny and
sad. It is a magnificent achievement and one that will stay with you for a long
time afterwards.
There are some films that are just
outside the top 10 that could get in on another day. The honourable mentions
are: Pyjama Girls, I Went Down, Once, In The Name of the Father, The Commitments, The General, In Bruges.
