Director Mark O’Connor bucked the
economic trend in 2012 when he arrived at the Galway Film Fleadh with two films
to be screened and a manifesto in his pocket. King of the Travellers and Stalker
were warmly received with the latter getting most of the attention for its more
experimental approach. But it is King of
the Travellers that has received a cinema release first and in some ways it
is easy to see why. It has more of a conventional plot although the setting
itself is unusual.
King of the Travellers tells the story of a feud between the Moorehouse and Powers, two
travelling families. Central to all this is John Paul Moorehouse (John Connors)
who believes that the Powers family murdered his father when he was a child. His
desire for revenge puts him at odds with the head of the Moorehouse clan, his
uncle Francis (Michael Collins) who urges peace. There is the further
complication of his love for Winnie Powers (Carla Mc Glynn) and his wild half
brother Mickey the Bags (Peter Coonan) who urges him on.
O’Connor wears his influences on
sleeve with pride here. There are touches of The Godfather, On the
Waterfront and in one of the early scenes Gangs of New York. This can be a dangerous game as you run the risk
of calling attention to more acclaimed work. But he gets away with it as he
grounds it within the authenticity of the traveller experience. But his main
influence is Shakespearian, with Romeo
& Juliet the main reference here. The first 30 or so minutes are when
the film is at its best. The opening scene in a dark room is beautifully shot.
Better again is the scene that follows along a motorway. In between there is
the credit sequence with astonishing black and white archive footage of
travellers set to The Furey's Óró Sé do Bheatha Bhaile. This is all very good
and as previously said the referencing works within the context of the setting.
But after this excellent beginning
some problems emerge. The first problem is the issue of non actors in the film.
In the dedication for authenticity O’Connor has filled out all the smaller
roles with travellers. The problem here is that when they have extended pieces
of dialogue, it is flat and unconvincing and threatens to derail the film
somewhat. The other main problem is the fact that the film is constricted by
its adherence to narrative convention. This essentially means the last 30
minutes become rushed and predictable as the film heads in the obvious
direction. What saves the film coming apart is the conviction of the main actors
in their parts. Coonan, Collins and Mc Glynn all do very well in their roles
with Coonan particularly taking the part and running with it. But it is the
sheer force of nature that is John Connors which holds the film together. It is
a big burden to carry a film in a first role but he succeeds admirably. I hope
to see more of him in the future.
King of the Travellers is a problematic but ultimately decent film which never moves beyond
its straightforward narrative. Yet there is a sense with this and Between the Canals that O’Connor is
starting to find his cinematic voice. Even by the audacious title alone, Stalker should be an interesting film to
see. It was heartening to see this film a couple of days after seeing Pilgrim Hill. If the ambition on show
from both these directors carries through it could be an interesting next few
years for Irish film.
