Film Review - Calvary (2014)

From the opening scene it is clear John Michael Mc Donagh is aiming for a weightier tone than the lighter one successfully employed in his previous box office smash The Guard. An older looking and bearded Brendan Gleeson plays Father James, a priest who at the beginning is sitting in the confession box. Off-screen we hear someone enter and start talking. There follows a quite astonishingly worded first line by the off screen character (mentioned in surprised awe by the Father James after it is spoken. Indeed there is some reflexive play on writing and characterisation littered throughout Calvary). The camera stays on Gleeson’s wonderful face throughout. The set up for the film is established in this scene: Father James has a week to get his house in order before he is murdered. This sets in motion a week where Father James meets up with all his regular parishioners (played by an assortment of famous Irish faces) and starts to think about how he has spent his years as a priest. There is also the small matter of family issues to deal with.  

The film is sectioned into days of the week which propels it forward nicely towards the inevitable showdown. It is clear that Father James is heavily involved in the lives of his parishioners. And what a group they are: there is Jack Brennan (Chris O’Dowd) the town butcher having marital difficulties. He believes his wife Veronica (Orla O’Rourke) is having an affair with Simon (Isaach De Bankolé). There is the rich banker Michael Fitzgerald (Dylan Moran) with difficulties money can’t buy. There is also Dr. Frank Harte (Aidan Gillen) the most cynical of doctors. We also have Milo (Killian Scott) who is lonely desperately so and local barman Brendan (Pat Shortt) who watches and sees everything. It should also be mentioned that legendary character actor M. Emmet Walsh turns up as a reclusive American writer. Add to all this Father James has to deal with Bishop Montgomery (David Mc Savage) and inept priest Father Timothy Leary (David Wilmot). There are a lot of troubles ahead.

There is a touch of an Agatha Christie whodunit about the set up here. Each character could conceivably hold a grudge if not against the priest certainly against the Catholic Church. This seems to be Mc Donagh’s theme here. Does a good man have to keep apologising for the wrongs of an organisation? And more importantly should he die for that organisation? Not for nothing is this film called Calvary. There is a lot to like about this film. As mentioned Gleeson is always a pleasure on screen and it is great to see him in a leading role. But for me the problems far outweigh the good qualities on show. Whilst the acting from the cast is pretty good very few of them can get under the skin of the characters they are playing (Chris O’Dowd is a notable exception). This is mainly due to a quite frankly poor screenplay. Some of the dialogue is fine and occasionally inspired. But the main problem with the screenplay is the same that plagued The Guard, namely the characters speaking the same cod philosophy and phraseology. Here it is expanded out to a much larger cast. The effect of this is exhausting meaning we never really get to know any of the characters (there a lot of speaking roles, more than even mentioned in the last paragraph, far too many really). This is all fine if you place the film within a heightened universe, so the dialogue can be played up theatrically say. But this so grounded in the admittedly beautiful Sligo soil that the words sound ridiculous and staged when they should sound heartfelt and realistic.

Calvary will no doubt have its fans. Indeed it would be nice to see an Irish Film Board funded film do well at the box office. But there is a sense here that Mc Donagh has not really moved on from The Guard. And with the success of that film maybe he does not need to. But for me this is a film that despite some good moments, a great cast and some gorgeous cinematography just does not work. By the time the final act happens (which aims for and fails to achieve a kind of operatic grandeur) you just do not really care. A missed opportunity. 

Film Review - Jack and Ralph Plan a Murder (2014)

All it takes is one inspired moment in a movie to get you in sync with it. I had been enjoying Jack and Ralph Plan a Murder up to a point but had not quite clicked with it. In truth, the scatological tone of the film is not generally my cup of tea but the performances and the story had kept me interested. The story concerns Jack (Jeff Doyle, also writer and director) a meek guy who is bullied mercilessly by co-worker Pat (a splendidly odious Chris Newman). Jack is in love with Laura (Aisling Bodkin) who also works in the office. Jack is advised on life by his imaginary best friend, the titular Ralph (Johnny Elliot, unapologetically profane) and it is Ralph who suggests that they devise a plan to kill Pat. So far so good but I was looking for something to hook me in. The scene that did occurs when Jack is in ‘training’ to kill Pat. Himself and Ralph (but really just himself) come across a dog in a park. The ensuing scene with the dog rendered me helpless with laughter. I was in and ready to laugh at things I really should know better than to laugh at.

Throughout the film Jack is encouraged by Ralph to fight back against various different people. But the device is really there so Jack can try to give himself some courage. There is a really nice scene after Jack has an accident at a party.  It is a quiet conversation with Laura on the street at night. Under the street lights we see that at that moment Jack is frightened not of Pat but of Laura and indeed reaching out. It is reflected in the yellow hue that surrounds him and this makes for a surprisingly subtle and effective scene. To be honest my only real criticism of the film is that the situation Jack finds himself in is a very real one and there are some missed opportunities for some genuine pathos here. But Doyle is going for the jugular regarding dark comedy and there is no doubt there will be something for everyone to be offended by.

Indeed there is a terrific line said early on by Pat to Laura describing Jack: ‘I heard he watched Schindler’s List and laughed all the way through’. If you find this funny this may well be the film for you. This line whilst been very funny to me also sums up very nicely that Jack is a very troubled man. Seen talking to himself (or Ralph) by various people does mean that we strongly suspect that Jack has some sort of mental illness. This adds a layer of tension to the film and gives an occasional moment when you think Jack might become tragically out of control. But a laugh is never far away to cut this tension.

The cast for such a low budget film is really good. Newman and Doyle impress as does Johnny Elliot who plays Ralph with a kind of swaggering ‘Kilgore in Apocalypse Now’ vibe. Bodkin makes the most of a decent but quite small role as Laura. There are a couple of small cameos by Peter Coonan and John Connors. Coonan plays a pimp who made me laugh with the most graphic assault on food I have ever witnessed. I laughed and winced. Connors is fast becoming one of the most promising actors in Ireland and he adds to that reputation here as a kind of religious figure for Jack to talk to.

Overall Jack and Ralph Plan a Murder is a film that will not be to everyone’s taste. But that is quite all right. A film cannot be all things to all people. But there are quite a few laughs to be had, it is well acted and really nicely shot (great to see Smithfield looking so well, an underused area for filming in). I am genuinely interested to see what Jeff Doyle does next and for me that is as good a recommendation for a first film as there is. 

Film Review - Trampoline (2014)

Given Ireland’s reputation for the gift of the gab and its high rate of people attending college it is surprising that there hasn’t been more films about people leaving education and finding their feet in life. Trampoline, at its centre, tells the story of an educated woman in her mid 20s trying to make sense of the world with no real experience of it. It has a feeling of the talky US indies that litter film festivals these days (St. Francis Ha anyone?) but has its own easygoing charm. Trampoline’s main story involves Angie (Aoife Spratt) who returns home to Nenagh from London to take up a temporary teaching position at a local school. She reconnects with her family and friends at the same time as she tries to make sense of where she is going. Plot-wise this is about the size of it in Tom Ryan’s micro budget debut feature film. There is certain trepidation in watching debut Irish features particularly with a very small budget: you want them to be good because it is clearly a heroic endeavour to get a film made and released with practically no money. They are generally passion projects and the last thing filmmakers want to hear is a reviewer dumping on their dreams. Watching the first twenty or so minutes of Trampoline, I had started to worry. There was the familiar tension in the family reunion with a past issue to be resolved. There was also a group of bored girls to be reached in the classroom so the potential for a Dead Poets Society scenario hung over the early part of the film.

Happily Ryan avoided most of these pitfalls quite smartly. The family issues were brought to the fore, notably in a terrific scene between Aoife and her mum (Margaret Walsh) but were not overdone. It also turns out quite refreshingly that Aoife is not that much of a teacher and her methods are questionable to say the least (watch out for her recommendation instead of reading The Great Gatsby). The real issue in this film is about the place in society for people who leave college qualified and enter into a job market with no jobs. The real question for Aoife is ‘should she stay or should she go?’ This is discussed directly and indirectly over the course of the film with fellow teacher Maria (Niamh Algar), best friend Kate (Audrey Hamilton) and love interest everyman James (Eddie Murphy) who dreams of getting out.

This is a film that could easily slip past you without you noticing. It is a slight thing, full of tiny moments. There are some scenes early on in the film that could have been edited a little tighter as they tend to go on a little. But the last 20 – 25 minutes of the film is where it really works. Most of this is down to the wonderful Aoife Spratt who anchors the film in a very real way. She has a young Pauline Mc Lynn vibe, all charm and mischievous eyes. Indeed it is wonderful to see a woman in the main role of an Irish film, it really doesn’t happen very often. My main fault with the film is that at times it is almost too wordy, particularly in the early part. In the second half it becomes a little more about visual storytelling and the film is better for it. There is a beautiful final shot that is a perfect example of how to show something instead of telling you something. It is delightful.

Director Tom Ryan has made a low key film that will probably divide audiences a little bit. If the charm washes over you it will be an enjoyable experience. If not, you may find yourself a little bored. But Ryan is a writer and director to watch out for. Given a decent budget and a more ambitious scope he could well become an important Irish filmmaker over the next few years. 

Trampoline goes on release from the 21st February at the Ormond Cineplex Nenagh.

Film Review - Limp

2013 was not a vintage year for Irish film. There were some exceptions of course but a small handful of films aside, the quality was down on 2012 which was an excellent year. It is an odd thing in a lot of ways exclusively reviewing Irish films. You really want them to be good and when they are not, you do not want to kick them around and hurt their chances to get wider distribution. At the same time you do not want to over-hype a film and disappoint an audience. This has been the case in the past and nothing makes an already sceptical audience even more tentative when approaching the next ‘great’ Irish film. All that can be done is to be fair, if you do not like something, say so but crucially explain why. It sounds simple but it is not done as much as it should be. So as I approached my first film of 2014 I was hoping for something to give me that feeling of optimism, something to make me think that 2014 could be our year. My first film of 2014 was Shaun Ryan’s Limp and if this is the standard that is being set it looks like being a fine year indeed.

Limp tells the story of Mr. Grot (Eoin Quinn) who lives the most solitary of lives. Seemingly permanently in his own head, his days seem punctuated with whatever fantasy he can concoct. We can tell early on that something is very wrong. The pulsing soundtrack (take a bow Chris Zabriskie) accompanies Mr. Grot on a shopping expedition to some women’s clothes shops. Of course he could be buying a present for his wife or girlfriend but something in the way he touches the dresses make you suspect he is not. It is this moment early on in the film that is key to the success of Eoin Quinn in the central role. Calm and quiet but silently screaming, the curdling loneliness and flashes of anger flit across his face every so often. He comes home after buying a dress and director Ryan shows his confidence with a superb long take in which we discover the full horror of Mr. Grots living arrangements.

It is not a spoiler to say that Mr Grot has a dead woman in his apartment. A former co-worker Catherine (Anne Gill) has been missing for a while and while we do not see what happened to her we do see the aftermath. That in a nutshell is where the power of Limp resides. It is a kind of horror film but not gruesome in the slightest. It is about the horror of decay, be it spiritual, mental or physical. It leaves so much to the imagination, forcing your mind to turn over the possible details. We see scenes either real or imagined from Mr. Grot’s point of view. These have a nightmarish and hallucinatory quality. This gives an insight to the growing sickness in Mr. Grot's mind. There is a genuine question that takes shape midway through the film. Will the ‘happy’ couple reside in the apartment until someone comes knocking or will Mr. Grot make a decision that will change everything.

There are a couple of minor problems with Limp. The first one is that the film is only about an hour long. I have no idea if this will make distribution more difficult but I hope not as it is a film that deserves a proper release. I also have a problem with some of the names in the film. The name Mr. Grot could have been a little less on the nose. I also could live the rest of my life without seeing working class ‘scumbags’ being called Anto and Jacinta. Filmmakers, working class people have other names, they do not all end with a vowel. But these are minor quibbles.

Shaun Ryan has assembled a fine film here. There is even a series of scenes not obviously connected to the main narrative that are revealed to be not quite what you think they are. For this I applaud the filmmaker. He has obviously watched enough horror films to know that the power of them lives in the lack of information given. Limp is more of a mood piece than a classical horror narrative and is all the better for it. The two main actors give fine performances with Quinn in particular an uneasy presence. The film is scratchy and nervous just like its lead character. Limp is a very good calling card on what looks like quite a low budget. I for one look forward to what he does next.

My Irish film awards for 2013

Although it pains me to say it, it has not been a particularly vintage year for Irish film. There were none released that were particularly bad per se, more that there was precious little to get excited about. That being said, for the second year in a row 2 Irish films will make it into my top 20 films of the year (one in my top 5). So positivity is necessary here. The ones that were good were really good. Instead of doing a list, I am going to do what I did last year and give out arbitrary and imaginary awards to those who deserved them. It is more fun to come up with silly names quite frankly. So without further ado…

The make me laugh and cry award (aka best Irish film of 2013) - Good Vibrations

This is a film that blindsided me this year. It tells the story of Terri Hooley, record shop owner, music producer, dreamer and bad husband who brought punk to Belfast in the 1970s and 80s. This film is an absolute joy to behold, emotional without being cloying, harsh without being brutal. There are tears and laughs in equal measure but crucially they are earned with a terrific tone and a great screenplay. Richard Dormer is terrific in the main role. The scene when he hears a certain record for the first time is just beautiful to behold. This is an absolute triumph and it is easily the best Irish film of 2013.

The ‘What’s Up Doc?’ award – Broken Song

The best Irish documentary this year was the wonderful Broken Song directed by Claire Dix. It tells the story of a group of young lads who rap. They are predominantly from the Finglas/Ballymun area of Dublin. Git and Costello have a father/son relationship which they both seem to draw on for lyrical inspiration. They also try to mentor some of the younger kids of the area. The songs themselves are lyrically brilliant, the content reflecting lives lived and dreams that slipped away. Into this comes singer/songwriter Willa Lee, who has a voice most singers would kill for. But he is also a troublemaker and a little bit too lazy. Dix delves lightly into their pasts but without reducing the film to working class misery porn which can happen in films such as this. At its heart, Broken Song is a simple story well told. And it is all the better for it.

The ‘overnight sensation’ award - Paul Duane

If you do not know who he is now he will be more familiar to you in 2014. Duane has had a superb year with Barbaric Genius released on DVD, a superb documentary (Natan) on the way, and a TV show about to air on RTE and BBC 4 (Amber). If that is not enough Variety only went and named him on their highly prestigious 10 Directors to watch in 2014 list. He is an all round good egg and very entertaining on Twitter (@MrPaulDuane). Mark my words this time next year he could be announced as the director of Transformers 5. We can only hope he can resist the lure of Hollywood and keep making the quality Irish films he has been making.

The ‘this kid’s got something’ first film award - Gerard Barrett Pilgrim Hill

Pilgrim Hill was released to talk of an instant classic and of a serious talent to behold. The talk of a masterpiece doesn’t help either the filmmaker or Irish film in general. Pilgrim Hill is not a masterpiece but it is a good enough film to suggest the birth of a major Irish filmmaker. The story of Jimmy Walsh and his life on his farm is lean, beautifully shot and very confident. It has a feeling of authenticity rarely seen. You get the feeling that Barrett and lead actor Joe Mullins know this terrain very well. They have carved out a memorable and low key film with a great central character at the heart of it. I cannot wait for Barrett’s next film to come along.

The 1^st Annual ‘just release the f*cking film will ya’ award – Tin Can Man

This is an easy winner. It is Tin Can Man by Ivan Kavanagh. It will be the same winner every year until this film gets a cinema release. Seriously people you have no idea how good this film is. Hassle your local TD. It needs to be seen.

A couple of honourable mentions. Citadel by Ciaran Foy was a very interesting film that fell away into genre conventions a little too much. But there is more than enough to suggest that he will make something excellent in the future.

It has not been on general release yet but the excellent documentary Where I Am by Pamela Drynan is a terrific and humbling story of what happened to American writer Robert Drake. It did screen in the IFI over the summer so I do not know if is getting a general release. It has been an excellent year for Irish documentaries as evidenced by the above choices and I have still to see The Summit! I will do so soon.

So that is it for 2013. Keep your eyes peeled on the blog for an article on Irish cinema in 2014 which I will publish over the next couple of weeks.  

Film Review - Stalker

Director Mark O’Connor arrived at the Galway Film Fleadh with a bang in 2012. Armed with a manifesto and two films under his arm he wanted to shake up the Irish film industry a little bit. The two films were King of the Travellers (released in cinemas this year) and his latest film Stalker which is yet to be released. The manifesto got quite a bit of press and Stalker was second in the best Irish feature award (no shame in being second to the excellent Good Vibrations) and was widely praised at the time. So why hasn’t the film arrived on our screens? Irish films need publicity to stand a chance of being seen at the cinemas and considering the marketing budgets are miniscule surely festival goodwill is an opportunity to help with the marketing a little bit. This is an argument that will run and run about why we do not see Irish films at the cinema and it is one I am sure I will be returning to. But coming back to Stalker, what does Mark O’Connor have in store for us? Well for me Stalker is as fascinating an Irish film as I have seen in quite some time.

Stalker tells the story of Oliver (John Connors), a homeless man wandering the streets who befriends a young boy called Tommy (Barry Keoghan) who he helps fight off bullies. Tommy’s life is in a bad way with a drug addicted mother and a crazy drug dealing uncle Rudyard (Peter Coonan). Oliver vows to help Tommy but his intensity scares Tommy a little. Plot wise that is about it but this is a film less inclined towards plot and more towards tone and feeling.

In my reviews of O’Connor’s previous films Between the Canals and King of the Travellers I mentioned that his films feel a little rough around the edges. That may have sounded like a criticism and in some ways it was. But it is also a compliment in that it gives his films a particular feel and tone that not all Irish filmmakers have. In Stalker he is aided by some beautiful camera work by Eoin Macken which initially brings a touch of the fairytale to an otherwise dark film. In the final third the camera work is used in a heightened fashion which also serves the ending well. So the look of the film is excellent - what about the rest of it?

John Connors is superb as Oliver; completely convincing as someone with some serious mental health problems. He is also co-writer here and he is a real talent. He commands the screen in a very naturalistic way and it looks effortless. Barry Keoghan is also very good and is an actor to watch. The two share some scenes that are intense and emotional. Peter Coonan is his usual manic self and his character Rudyard is an odious one. But Coonan plays it a little too broad and over the top at times and I would like to have seen a little more control in the performance.

The film does have some issues. There is a scene set in a cinema that is a little unconvincing. While I liked the idea of the scene, the way it plays out doesn’t really ring true. I don’t want to give away any more details that would spoil it but it comes across as a little too on the nose in relation to the state of modern Irish filmmaking. Perhaps it is the script that is at fault here as it gives Oliver too much information to impart. It is the only time in the film that Oliver sounds like he is explicitly delivering the words and viewpoint of the writer rather than just talking. There is also a bit of a problem towards the climax when the plot and narrative take over. Stalker (and indeed O’Connor) is at its best when it is freewheeling along without any real narrative concern. The utterly strange feeling is more than enough to sustain real interest. But the film rallies to deliver a really intense and feverish climax that works very well indeed.

There is a real feeling here that with Stalker, Mark O’Connor has finally found his cinematic voice. Stalker has a more experimental feel and this benefits O’Connor hugely. This approach may well produce a masterpiece in the future. And with the wonderful John Connors writing and starring with him he may well have found his muse. I for one look forward to the next two films arriving in Galway.  

Halloween at Filmbase

This looks like a fun couple of nights out. And they are showing Irish horror short films and Irish horror feature Citadel as well.

You can go to both nights for€5.  Well worth €5 of anyones money.

Details are below.

Halloween Comes to Filmbase!

Wednesday 30th & Thursday 31st October 2013

In a special event for Halloween, Filmbase will host two terrifying nights of blood-curdling shorts and a frightening feature. Wednesday’s shorts will be followed by an audience Q&A with all of the directors and both nights will feature fancy dress and, if that wasn’t enough, our very own Film Ireland Editor, Stefano Galvino, DJing with his unique Audio Visual Horror Set.

Spine-Shuddering Short Film Feast!

7pm, Wednesday 30th October

Wednesday’s line-up features an array of spine-shuddering short films, an audience Q&A with all of the Directors and an Audio Visual Horror Set.

The short film line-up includes:

-          The Ten Steps

-          Zombie Bashers

-          Braineater

-          The Faeries of Blackheath Woods

The Q&A will feature the film’s directors Brendan Muldowney, Conor McMahon & Ciaran Foy.

Audio Visual Horror Set:

Stefano Galvino, our very own Film Ireland Editor, will haunt your eyes and ears with an exclusive mix of soundtracks, dialogue, horror, spoken word, atmospherics alongside diabolical visuals from all your favourite nightmares to send you home.

Halloween Night’s Freaky Feature Frenzy!

7pm, Thursday 31th October

Feature Film – Citadel

84mins | Cert 16 | 2012

Tommy Cowley is a young father inflicted with chronic agoraphobia since his wife was brutally attacked by a gang of a twisted feral children. Trapped in the dilapidated suburbia of Edenstown, he must finally face the demons of his past and enter the one place that he fears the most – the abandoned tower block known as the Citadel.

Audio Visual Horror Set:

Stefano Galvino, our very own Film Ireland Editor, will be on hand the Thursday too, bringing you more visuals from all your favourite nightmares to send you home.

Plus, lots more SPOOKY happenings including…

Best Fancy Dress Competition:

1st Prize – 100 euro Filmbase Voucher for any Filmbase training course.
2nd Prize – 50 euro Filmbase Voucher for any Filmbase training course.
3rd Prize – 1 year free Filmbase Membership.

Tickets:

Tickets only €3 for one night or €5 for both nights.

Tickets available on the door, or book your place by calling 01 679 6716 and dialling 1 for reception.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUQ9u5NV1-U

Film Review - The Irish Pub (2013)

 The new documentary The Irish Pub reaches the screens in a timely manner as the dying embers of Arthurs Day flicker out. This was a chance to explore our complex relationship with alcohol be it for good or for bad. Pubs are still the social centre of life in Ireland. Remember the slightly odd advertisements calling pubs the original social network? What better way to look at all of this than a documentary on the big screen. Sure we can go for a pint afterwards and discuss it.

The documentary sets out its stall with the meeting of various landlords in iconic or old pubs all over Ireland and letting them talk. Some of the characters on camera are more compelling than others, particularly Paul Gartlan in his pub in Cavan. He is a force of nature straight out of Deadwood and could easily have his own spin off film. The problem here is that there is very little to tie it together. There is no structure or forward momentum which makes the film feel a shade longer than its tidy 76 minutes. When the talking heads are interesting, it is fine, but when they are a little duller, it drags. The film struggles through the first half hour in a whimsical fashion, painting an Ireland that surely would be believable to a certain kind of homesick Diaspora. 30 minutes in and I was beginning to worry the whole film would continue like this.

Thankfully the film improves immeasurably when it tackles the importance of the pub to people who are lonely and use the pub as a lifeline. To a young generation this may not mean much but to older people who live alone, a local pub that keeps you a chair on a winters evening - it is a vital link to the outside world. This is explored here and it is the role of the landlord that is very important particularly in rural areas. Some of the camerawork is excellent here, with specific close-up shots in certain pubs memorable.

But this is a film with problems. The main one is its determination to explore the past rather than the present. With this, The Irish Pub seems in thrall to a kind of dangerous nostalgia. Jokes are made about whether women could go in the pub (they could, in the lounge or the snug, not the bar) without being challenged or at least contextualised. New Ireland, with its steady supply of young people (there are only a couple of young people amongst the talking heads) presumably ready to be loud and obnoxious are virtually ignored. What we are left with is the Ireland of the past, of Ryan’s Daughter, cream crackers and polo mints (some of the pubs are also shops). At one point (pint?) during the Irish pub a picture of the Virgin Mary is seen next to a Guinness glass. If there is a better image to represent Ireland of the last century I have yet to see it. They make queasy bedfellows at the best of times and yet you would not know it watching The Irish Pub. The film virtually ignores any negative aspects of the pub. There is no one drunk onscreen (I presume deliberately) and there is no sense that there is anything wrong with going to the pub night after night. I was not expecting a miserable documentary exploring the horrors of drink but at least some mention of growing problems in our society would have been welcome. John B. Keane’s pub is featured as is his son who tells an amusing story of his father using material from the bar in his plays. Yet there is only a passing mention of Brendan Behan and practically nothing about the fact that alcohol essentially caused his early death. Again not expecting a serious exploration but more than a brief mention would and should have been there.

The Irish Pub is an interesting documentary but it feels like an incomplete story. If you have a burning desire to see Ireland as it once was, this is the film for you. I noted in a superb article by Ronan Doyle on Irish cinema (http://www.indiewire.com/article/why-you-need-to-start-paying-attention-to-irish-cinema) a mention of a panel discussion at IFNY that will be discussing American investment in Irish films to see if the Irish American audience could be catered for. Well this could be the prototype model. I imagine it would be approved by The Gathering and Licensed Vintners Association as well. This to me is why overall despite some interesting points the film fails honourably.

Short film review - Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (2013)

There seems to be a justifiable confidence at work in Bertie Brosnan’s Jacob Wrestling with the Angel film.

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel tells the story of Jacob, an artist who is struggling with his work. Indeed the angel in this case is his sanity. He is at times reduced to a wreck, staring at a computer screen from which various phrases emanate from. One of the main phrases ‘is there any such thing as freedom?’ seems apt for Jacob’s mental state, indeed it is easy to imagine that these words are only heard in his head. We also see Jacob’s dream state, where he is either in dark corridors (of his mind), in a forest or on an open beach. The shots on the beach seem to suggest a more lucid and calm state of being.

This is a fascinating short film. The pace is languid, the storytelling unhurried, the script sparse. This is a film that is telling you a great deal but with the minimum of traditional narrative. This may be a problem for some people but for me it worked in its favour. Some of the cinematography by Blaine Rennicks is superb, particularly in the forest. The score by Jason Fernandez is beautiful. If there is a criticism it would be that maybe a minute or so could be shaved off the running time. It is not too long in general terms but the pacing might be helped with a slightly shorter film. Otherwise this is a fine film.

Short Film Review - Safehouse (2013)

 Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair debuted her short film Safehouse at the Galway Film Fleadh this year. Safehouse opens in quiet, as a couple, Sean (Steve Gunn) and Lorraine (Olga Wehrly) sleep in a remote cabin. But things are not right. There are worrying blood patches on the bed and there is the glimpse of a gun. We are beginning at the aftemath of something and the feeling is that this may not end well.

The initial feeling on watching Safehouse was that the story seemed familiar: we have seen a variation on it many times before. Credit then to director and writer Ní Ghrioghair who manages to make it feel fresh. Exposition is used sparingly, the visuals tell most of the story. The leads are great with particular praise for Olga Wehrly who is superb. The cinematography by Tommy Fitzgerald is excellent giving the film a basking glow akin to a Malick film. The director proudly shows her influences as Safehouse evokes an older time for film, with echoes of the new Hollywood of the 70s (Bonny and Clyde, Badlands).

Safehouse is a fine short, beautiful to look at with a story that is in turn familiar and strange. It has the feeling of a neo noir bathed in sunlight. We do not get many of those in Ireland.

Short film reviews

 Last week I was looking through my DVR to see what needed to be deleted to make space. I was hovering at the 25% free space mark and was beginning to worry. I quickly realised that amongst my recordings I had set a series link for the shortscreen series. I flicked through and counted around 20 Irish short films that I had yet to watch.

This led me to reconsider an idea I had had a couple of years ago but dismissed at the time. I thought about it some more and decided to give it a run. I am going to do Irish short film reviews, about 150 – 250 words per film. I have never reviewed a short film before so it will be interesting. Plus the limited word count means I need to economic as it falls mid way between a tweet and a full review!

If you would like a short film reviewed you can contact me via twitter (@jaycoyle, follow me, I am great on Twitter!) or if you want you can contact me by email (cineireland@gmail.com). Please be aware that I have about 20 films to review already so if you send me one please be patient. I will get to your film as soon as I can.  

Film Review - Citadel (2013)

There is a clear contemporary feel to Ciaran Foy’s Citadel, the new Irish horror film. Horror films can reflect the times and the societal pressures we live under, George A. Romero’s Dead trilogy being a perfect example. The horror in Citadel is certainly concerned with the everyday world in which we find ourselves. It is in the dark winter nights when we are afraid to venture out. Ireland is a country that has shut its eyes, lest we see what has become of it. It is a horrifying idea that we may have lost our country to decay, both financial and moral. Social issues are scattered across the muddied palette of Citadel, with the fear of marauding out-of-control gangs the main worry here. It also touches on urban decay, the terrifying concept of ghost estates and most importantly the dangers of ignoring the needs of the poorest in society. If you do not feed and nourish them at some point they will bite back. But perhaps all this would be rendered mute if the film itself didn’t work in horror terms. I am happy to say that for the most part Citadel does get under your skin but with some reservations.

The story begins with Tommy (Aneurin Barnard) and his pregnant wife leaving their crumbling tower block apartment for the last time. Whilst an agoraphobic Tommy is stuck in the malfunctioning lift his wife is attacked by hooded youths. Tommy sees the attack but is unable to help her and she ends up in a coma. Their baby is delivered early and Tommy looks after the child on his own in a small house in an area that is rapidly falling part. Tommy’s agoraphobia has worsened to the point that he can barely leave the house. Even when he does make it out he is terrified of the threats he perceives on the streets. 

The film is at its most effective in the first hour or so. The visual representation of Tommy’s agoraphobia and the heightened sound design combine spectacularly well to create an atmosphere of pure dread. This is all done without anything substantial happening, mostly suggested movements taking place at the edges of the frame. Tommy’s fear that the hooded youths have come back to take his child is a plausible one and creates tension. The streets where he lives are also impressively oppressive, with the buses in particular given a disgusting sheen. Anyone who has got on a dodgy last bus home will recognise the same feeling albeit in heightened terms here. This is all very good and there is a sense at this point that this could be a bit of a horror gem. Alas, this is where Citadel falls into the familiar trap that a lot of horror films fall into: the dreaded film character ‘exposition’.

The introduction of a local priest (a scenery chewing James Cosmo) who knows more about the gangs than he lets on slows the story down. There is also a kindly nurse (Wunmi Mosaku) who believes that people are inherently good. It is at this point the film takes a momentum killing hiatus to explain what is happening and give as much back-story as possible. This somewhat kills the carefully built up atmosphere created in the first hour. So many horror films do this and it is really not necessary. The film rallies for its final act, delivering a decent conclusion within the budget constraints. There is an unfortunate CGI heavy shot at the end that really could have been left out. What is most frustrating about the finale is that some of the imagery on display would have been so much more effective and horrifying without the exposition that came beforehand. But there are scares to be had in the final act and it concludes the film on the right note.

Citadel is a film well worth seeing at the cinema. Foy is a director to watch and given a decent budget and with this experience under him he may well go on to great things. A wobbly middle aside his direction is crisp with some excellent shots that work very well. Just stop telling me the whys and wherefores. I really do not need to know. At its best Citadel is a film that will have you squirming nervously in your cinema seat. You cannot ask much more from a horror film than that. 

Film Review - Good Vibrations (2013)

It rarely happens but sometimes there is an Irish film that you see in the cinema which you are sure is going to make a lot of money. Surely everyone will want to see it. Last year I had the pleasure of watching Grabbers and I remember coming out of the cinema thinking that it could hit the jackpot at the box office. It was just so damned enjoyable, kind of like those American films we see in our droves, but good. Alas that didn’t really happen and sadly as is the case with a lot of Irish films. The ‘Irish’ factor seemed to have kept the crowds away. I happened to catch the last screening of Good Vibrations in Dublin before it finished its run and boy did I have that feeling again. I hope that it did well at the cinema but from what I have read it may not have. One can only hope that for both these films, a long and healthy shelf life awaits.

Good Vibrations tells the story of Terri Hooley (Richard Dormer, truly superb), a record store and label owner in Belfast during The Troubles in the 60s and 70s. We first see him as a child in a beautiful and dreamy sequence at the beginning of the film. Running around his garden he seems entranced by the world he is in. This opening scene gives the film a somewhat sunny disposition but there is always darkness lurking. An accident occurs at the end of this sequence lest we get too happy. We next meet Terri as a peace loving young man listening to reggae with his friends. But The Troubles begin and Terri’s friends pick sides along religious lines and begin to arm themselves. They despise Terri for sticking with his peace loving ethos and not getting involved. It is at this point that he has the seemingly insane idea to open a record store on Great Victoria Street, a location that has been constantly bombed. The shop attracts strays from the burgeoning new punk scene of which Terri is blissfully unaware.

Hooley is precisely the character that if he didn’t exist in real life you would have to make him up. Unashamedly optimistic, self centred and passionate, he is the dream character to centre a film around. The fact that he really exists seems like an especially wonderful bonus. Good Vibrations is very much his story but it is also a lot more. It chronicles a time when some people genuinely thought that music could change the world. Crucially it lets you see how and why people could think this way. The birth of Hooley’s passion for all things punk is captured wonderfully as he goes to one of the live shows in a local pub. This is his epiphany. In an incredible slow motion scene the camera stays on his face as he dances like a mad man. All of Dormer’s acting range is shown across Hooley’s wonderful face. There seems to be an inner war between laughter and tears here with pure emotional joy being the resultant stalemate. Crucially you feel him feeling. This gets to the heart of why the film works so well.

There are a couple of other scenes that are just as good but should be enjoyed without me ruining them. Suffice to say that they are centred on that most wonderful of feelings: when you hear a song for the first time and know that it can change everything - including you. Good Vibrations nails something that few films about music get: namely the absolute joy one can get from the first beats of a song. It is the electricity that comes with hearing something special for the first time. But this is not a film that is all sweetness and light. Good Vibrations doesn’t shy away from showing the darkness that surrounded Northern Ireland at that time. To its credit Terri Hooley is not painted as a saint either. At times he comes across as very selfish and a bit lazy. It also shows the effects of his continuous drinking and use of drugs, without too much judgement but starkly presented nonetheless.

Good Vibrations is a glorious film. It soars with a fierce joy in a dark world. Good Vibrations achieves that rarest of balance: being full of charm but devoid of sentimentality. There are some ‘fist in the air’ emotional triumphs here but they are earned by a smart script and a wonderful style. I will be very surprised if this isn’t in my top 10 of 2013 at the end of the year. 

Film Review - Pilgrim Hill (2013)

‘Making your way in the world today, takes everything you've got’

It was bizarrely appropriate that the advertisements before Pilgrim Hill showed a certain fast food chain’s ad of the happy Irish farmer permanently basked in sunshine as he made his way around his forensically clean farm. Nothing was out of place and it quite frankly looked like the best job in the world. Weirdly there are no sign of any animals either; presumably all happily gone to slaughter to help feed us the wonderful burgers. The first line of the song used (from Cheers sacrilegiously) is more suitable to Gerard Barrett’s debut feature than anything an advertisement can think up. The line neatly sums up the predicament facing Jimmy Walsh (Joe Mullins) in the quietly riveting Pilgrim Hill. We meet Jimmy at a time in his life where things aren’t going so well. His days are spent relentlessly doing the farm work, be it the mending of fences or the milking of cows. These are long and solitary days with an ailing and unseen father the reward at the end of them. Jimmy is lonely, desperately so and things need to change.

The power in Barrett’s film resides in the rhythmic quietness. In the repetitive sounds of the machines that milk the cows. In the stirring of the many cups of tea that punctuate the day. In the sitting at the bar having the quietest of pints. There is practically no music for the first hour of the film which gives the film a claustrophobic feel and hermetically seals Jimmy into his existence. But that seal is broken by a visit from a local health inspector which leaves Jimmy facing an uncertain future: should he listen to his only friend Tommy (Muiris Crowley) and think about a life away from farming or resign himself to repeating the generation before and stay with the only thing he knows for the rest of his life.

The only out seems to be Jimmy’s straight to camera discussions which act as a confessional. This is where he lets out all the emotions and fears about his past and present. There are some heartbreaking words here but for me this is where the film fell down a little. They felt possibly tacked on to pad out the running time to feature length. Yes the subjects that Jimmy speaks about are important to the character but I didn’t need it as exposition. I wanted a visual representation of those words. This is a real pity as I fell perfectly into the rhythm of the film and it was the straight to camera moments that pulled me out of it. There is magic in Barrett’s roving camera on the farm but the magic slips when the story stops. Joe Mullins is a revelation in the main role. He carries the weight of his loneliness in that walk of his, in the glances at others and at himself in the mirror. Those eyes tell you all you need to know about his regret and isolation which makes the straight to camera pieces unnecessary.

Pilgrim Hill is a very good debut film. With a reported budget of €4,500 it is quite frankly astonishing. It is also a film of our times, looking at a country bereft of direction. It captures the feeling that farming was one of our indigenous industries ignored while we chased the housing dream. Now that the hangover has come, this is what is left: a broken industry full of broken men. There is an authenticity here; you instantly know that both Barrett and Mullins know the terrain well. They have carved out a memorable and low key film with a great central character at the heart of it. Alas, is not the masterpiece that some have said. But there is more than enough here to suggest that Barrett could be a significant Irish filmmaker for years to come.

Film Review - Stella Days (2012)

During the recent Presidential elections in Ireland there was a slightly tongue in cheek campaign to get Martin Sheen to enter the race. This was specifically related to his portrayal of Jed Bartlet in The West Wing but there was also the fact that Martin Sheen seems intrinsically related to Ireland. He has studied and made films here. He is a man that we trust. There is even a small chance he would have got a decent amount of votes had he threw his hat in the ring. The point being one that most film fans already knew all too well: a film will invariably be better if he has a role in it. After watching Stella Days the temptation is to wonder just how bad the film would have been without him.

Sheen plays Father Barry, a priest in small town Ireland in the 1950s. He is an educated and forward thinking priest who has a desire to return to Rome. This hope is dashed by the vindictive and vain Bishop Hegarty (a fine Tom Hickey) who wants Father Barry to raise funds to build a new modernist church. Father Barry is a film buff and decides to set up a small cinema to raise money. He does this with help from the new local school teacher Tim (Trystan Grayville) who is himself attracted to a married woman (the husband is largely absent).

This is a story of the old versus the new. The opening scene has ESB workers putting up poles in the snow to bring electricity to the small town. This is a fascinating time, when you can see modern Ireland begin to light up but sadly it doesn’t really get explored. In its place comes Brendan McSweeney (Stephen Rea) a local businessman and soon to be politician who wants to keep the old ways intact and therefore becomes Father Barry’s nemesis. Thus the scene is set for a battle of wills for the soul of the town.

Stella Days wants to be an ambitious and the central themes are certainly interesting. It wants to delve deep into the history of Ireland and how it is shaped by the encroachment of technology be it with electricity, cinema or kitchen appliances, but it never really does this. Indeed some of the early scenes of women looking at kitchen appliances with suspicion almost seem to be lifted from an unseen Father Ted episode with Mrs. Doyle in the role of the bewildered housewife. The other real problem for the first hour or so is the muddled narrative and the clichéd storytelling. This prevents the film from getting at those ideas with any real affect which lessens the film’s impact. Add to this the fact that Stephen Rea is completely wasted in what is probably the least interesting role I have seen him in. His politician is just a cipher for the film to lay out its ‘keep the town traditional’ ideas and nothing else. This is a real pity as Rea is usually a terrific actor with better material than he has been given here. 

Things take a darker turn during the final act and the film finally comes to life. There are some genuinely emotional moments in the final third of the film that go some way to rescuing the film as a whole. Sheen is absolutely terrific here, adding a real sense of danger to the kindly priest role that perhaps would have been expected. He is a scholarly priest and there is the feeling that he looks down on the people of the town as uneducated fools. He is outwardly kind but it is his eyes that some of his real feelings are betrayed. If only the other characters in the film were as well developed. Thaddeus O’ Sullivan directs in a workmanlike fashion, giving Stella Days the feel of a TV drama rather than anything cinematic. For a film that is partly about cinema, this is disappointing. Overall Stella Days is an earnest film that never successfully captures the times that it is set. For that I would recommend a watching of Neil Jordan’s The Butcher Boy.