Film Review - The Tiger's Tail (2006)

I remember quite well the general reaction from people when I first mentioned that I was going to write a blog on Irish film: from the usual ‘that should take up five minutes of your time’ reaction to the genuinely puzzled ‘why?’ Sadly the overwhelming reaction was that it would be like shooting fish in a barrel, putting the boot into all the bad Irish films that have been made. There were reasons to think this. Irish film doesn’t have a great reputation with Irish people and some of that is deserved. But my intention was to try and seek out good films that may have been discarded and hopefully get people to see films that they otherwise would not. This was to me a lofty; if naïve, idea to be honest but I felt that there was no point in sneering at Irish films as it has been done to death. I tried to find good things to say about films even if, as a whole, the films themselves didn’t work. In a word I wanted to be reasonable. And then I watched The Tiger’s Tail.

Of course I had heard that it was a troubled film and that the reviews had been less than favourable. But as I scrolled through my DVR and saw it sitting there I thought why not? It was directed by the great John Boorman (Point Blank, Deliverance) and starred Brendan Gleeson. They were the team behind the rather wonderful The General eight years previously. It was also supposed to take aim at the relentless consumerism that the now waning Celtic Tiger had helped create. Surely it couldn’t be as bad as its reputation suggests?

I have yet to see all the Irish films ever made so I cannot call The Tiger’s Tail the worst Irish film ever made. But what I can say for certainty is that it the worst, most offensive Irish film that I have ever seen. The plot goes like this - Gleeson plays Liam, a man who seems to have it all: a successful property business, a glamorous wife (Kim Cattrall) and the respect he has always craved. His life starts to unravel when he sees a double of himself. It is not long before his double starts to try and take over his life.

Oh where to even begin with the problems. Apparently it is a black comedy but on viewing, one could only think scenes were added in editing as the drama was so bad. The film is neither funny nor dramatic. Gleeson throws himself into this but he is uncomfortable throughout. The risible script seems to be why as he delivers lines that you know he can’t quite believe he is saying. There are heavy-handed scenes that are supposed to reflect the consumerist times we live in but they are just so over the top as to be scarcely credible. The Temple Bar scene resembles the seventh circle of hell, the A&E scene, the same. This approach of bludgeoning the viewer loses any sense of what the filmmaker is trying to say. You would think that a director of Boorman’s stature would know when to rein it in. But this film has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. There is an unscrupulous dodgy politician called Bertie in it for Christ’s sake. As for Kim Cattrall - this makes the casting of Julia Roberts in Michael Collins seem like a masterstroke. Her accent is mid Atlantic Dublin whatever the hell that is. In fairness, her part is not even on the page.

All of this would be just about forgivable if it wasn’t for one of the most unpleasant scenes I have ever watched in a film. Liam’s double comes home pretending to be Liam and essentially rapes his wife. She fights at first and then seems to accept the inevitable and indeed eventually enjoys it. This is grotesque enough but then the film adds in the post coital conversation where he offends her and she slaps him. He slaps her back quite forcefully across the face and she looks shocked but then laughs and smiles because she deserves it. This is a spectacularly offensive scene and one of the most misjudged I have ever come across. If this all seems like I am giving away spoilers it is because I am. Nobody should have to sit through this. The Tiger’s Tail should in fact now be the litmus test for bad Irish films. If you can somehow get through it, you can watch anything.

If this seems too mean and a bit like shooting fish in a barrel well so be it. But this matters! It matters when the Irish Film Board’s money is put into something like this. Whatever about a Return on Investment there should be at least someone reading the goddamn script and saying ‘hold on a minute’. By the look of the film I could only imagine it wasn’t pocket money that was invested. In a time when a terrific low budget film like Tin Can Man (see previous review) cannot even find any distribution it is shameful at best and downright irresponsible at worst that this is how money was invested. There are a lot of micro budget films out there that even small amounts of money could help in a real way. That is the real shame of The Tiger’s Tail.

My top 10 Irish films of all time

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.