Tag Archives: Jim Sheridan

Lisa Marie Reviews An Oscar Nominee: In The Name Of The Father (dir by Jim Sheridan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

One thing that I’ve come to realize is that Irish-Americans (like myself) have been guilty of idealizing the Irish Republican Army in the past.

We tend to view the IRA as being freedom fighters, battling against the occupation and standing up against religious bigotry.  The truth of the matter is that the IRA was a violent organization whose actions often made things even worse for the Catholics in Northern Ireland.  While the IRA’s American supporters always tended to present the IRA as plotting actions against the British army, the truth of the matter is that many of the IRA’s victims were Irish citizens who were judged to either be collaborators or to not be properly enthused about the IRA in general.  The popular excuse for the IRA’s terrorism is to say that the IRA usually called and gave advanced warning before a bomb went off but really, that’s kind of a weak excuse when you think about it.  Really, the only thing that the IRA had going for it was that the British were often just as bad and even more heavy-handed when it came to dealing with the Irish.

In 1993’s In The Name of the Father, Daniel Day-Lewis plays Gerry Conlon, who is sent to London by his father, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), specifically to keep him from falling victim to the IRA.  Of course, once Gerry arrives in London, he supports himself through burglaries and spends most of his time in a state of stoned bliss with his friends.  It’s while Gerry is in London that an IRA bomb blows up a pub in Guildford.  When Gerry later returns to Belfast, he is promptly arrested and accused of being one of the four people responsible for the bombing.

Gerry protests that he’s innocent and we know that he’s innocent.  We know that, when the bomb was placed, Gerry was busy getting high with Paul Hill (John Lynch).  Paul has also been arrested and the British police are determined to get a confessions out of both him and Gerry.  The interrogation stretches for hours.  Though exhausted, Gerry refuses to confess.  Suddenly, Inspector Robert Dixon (Corin Redgrave) enters the room.  He walks up to Gerry and whispers in his ear that if Gerry doesn’t confess, “I will kill your Da.”

It’s a shocking moment because the threat is delivered without a moment of hesitation on the part of Dixon.  Dixon’s voice is so cold and so direct that, when I watched this film, I actually gasped at the line.  An exhausted and terrified Gerry confesses.  Soon, Gerry is thrown in prison.  He’s joined by his sickly father, who has been accused of being a co-conspirator.  At first, Gerry resigns himself to never being free again.  He meets Joe (Don Baker), who says that he’s the one who set the bomb and that he confessed after Gerry, Giuseppe, Paul Hill, and the other members of the so-called Guildford Four had been given their life sentences.  With Giuseppe’s health faltering, Gerry finally steps up and, with the help of an attorney (Emma Thompson), fights for his freedom.

In The Name of the Father is a powerful film, one that was based on a true story.  Gerry and his father come to represent every victim of a biased justice system and an authoritarian-minded police force.  Gerry starts the movie trapped between the two sides of the Troubles.  The IRA doesn’t trust him because he’s not a bomb-thrower.  The British distrust him because he’s Irish.  Despite his innocence being obvious, Gerry finds himself sent to prison because letting him go would be viewed as a sign of weakness.  Daniel Day-Lewis gives a passionate and charismatic performance as the impulsive and somewhat immature Gerry but the film’s heart really belongs to the late Pete Postlethwaite, playing a father who refuses to give up on either his freedom or his son.

In The Name of the Father received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress (for Emma Thompson).  That was also the year of Schindler’s List, which took the Oscars for both Picture and Director.  Daniel Day-Lewis lost to Philadelphia’s Tom Hanks while Postlethwaite lost to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive and Thompson lost to Anna Paquin for The Piano.  1993 was a good year for movies and the Oscars, though I would have voted for Day-Lewis over Hanks.

Lisa Marie Reviews An Oscar Winner: My Left Foot (dir by Jim Sheridan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

“This is Christy Brown, writer, genius!”

So declares Patrick Brown (Ray McAnally) as he carries his son, Christy Brown, into a Dublin pub.   It’s one of the most emotional moments to be found in the 1989 Best Picture nominee, My Left Foot.  Based on the main character’s memoir, My Left Foot tells the story of Christy Brown, wh was born into a working class Dublin  family of 15 and who grew up to become an acclaimed writer and artist.  Afflicted with cerebral palsy, Brown’s left foot was the only part of his body that he had full control over.  The film follow Brown as he learns to write, paint, and communicate with that foot.  As a child, Christy Brown is played by Hugh O’Conor.  As a young man, he’s played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who apparently stayed in character even when he wasn’t filming.  Day-Lewis won his first Oscar for his performance as Christy Brown.  Brenda Fricker won a Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Christy’s mother, Bridget Fagan Brown, making My Left Foot the first Irish film to win any competitive Oscars.  I would argue that Ray McAnally, at the very least, deserved a nomination for Supporting Actor as well.  (Sadly, McAnally passed away shortly before the release of My Left Foot.)

My Left Foot is an inspiring movie but, at the same time, it’s an honest one.  Christy Brown’s life is never portrayed as being easy and Christy himself is never portrayed as being a saint.  There are time when Christy is pissed off at the world, at one point even starting a brawl in a pub.  Even after Christy is accepted into a school for people with Cerebral Palsy and he has the first exhibition of his work, there is still heartbreak.  Christy has fallen in love with a woman named Eileen (Fiona Shaw) and when he discovers that she’s engaged, he comes close to ending his own life.  It’s a not to watch as Christy’s pain feels so real and so intense that you almost feel like an intruder while watching.  The film leaves you cheering for Christy and happy that he’s found a way to express his feelings and his intelligence but at the same time, it never fools you into thinking that Christy is going to have an easy life.  The film’s too honest to end on a note of false hope.

My Left Foot features one of Daniel Day-Lewis’s best performances.  (Though who say that every Day-Lewis performance is one of his best have obviously never seen Nine.)  Day-Lewis not only captures Christy’s physical condition but, even more importantly, he allows us into Christy’s mind.  We get to know Christy as much for his sharp wit and intellect as for his physical disability.  Brenda Fricker plays Bridget as being earthy but supportive, someone who always tries to do the best for her son.  But the performance that really makes me cry is the performance of Ray McAnally, who initially doesn’t know what to make of his son but who changes his mind once he sees Christy writing with his left foot.  “Genius!” he declares and it brings tears to the eyes of everyone watching.

My Left Foot was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.  Oliver Stone won Best Director for a much more grandiose portrait of disability, Born On The Fourth Of July.  Best Picture, meanwhile, went to Driving Miss Daisy.

4 Shots From 4 Irish Films: In The Name of the Father, The Butcher Boy, Six Shooter, Calvary

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

4 Shots From 4 Films

In The Name of the Father (1993, dir by Jim Sheridan)

The Butcher Boy (1997, dir by Neil Jordan)

Six Shooter (2004, dir by Martin McDonagh)

Calvary (2014, dir by John Michael McDonagh)

A Quickie With Lisa Marie: Dream House (dir. by Jim Sheridan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I try to put into words my reaction to the new film Dream House, one phrase comes to mind:

Bleh.

Dream House is about this guy played by Daniel Craig who we’re told, at the start of the film, is a writer.  He’s moved out to his “Dream House” out in the middle of one of those cinematic suburban communities.  He shares his dream house with his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and his two little girls.  However, things aren’t quite what they seem.  The girls keep seeing a shadowy figure watching them.  Teenagers keep performing Satanic rituals in the basement.  Craig’s neighbor looks just like Naomi Watts.  Oh no!  Has he been sucked into Mulholland Drive!?

No, not quite.  Instead, he’s just found himself trapped in a painfully slow movie that takes itself and it’s half-baked plot way too seriously.  This film is being advertised as if it’s a horror movie but there’s nothing scary about it and it’s almost as if the film itself is refusing to lower itself to providing us with any “cheap” thrills.  The film instead is a mystery but it’s one of those mysteries where we discover the solution not through any artfully placed clues but instead by random characters showing up and having flashbacks.

There’s a big twist about 80 minutes into this 99 minute film and, as a reviewer, I know that it would not be right for me to spoil that twist.  Fortunately, however, Morgan Creek Productions decided to include that twist in the film’s trailer so, if you want to know, here you go:

Again, it takes this film 80 minutes to reach the twist that the trailer reveals after 1 minutes and 17 seconds.  So, as a result, you spend the first 80 minutes going, “Okay, we know…”  Once the twist is revealed, there’s only 18 minutes to wrap up the film’s plot and this is done in the clumsiest way imaginable.

Now, one reason for this might be that the film’s producers reportedly clashed with director Jim Sheridan and eventually took the film away from him.  Sheridan, Craig, and Watts have all refused to do any promotion for the film and have publicly stated that they hate the version that has been released.  I don’t know.  My natural impulse has always been to side with the artists as opposed to the corporate people.  After all, we’ve all heard about what happened to Erich Von Stroheim’s original cut of Greed and about what Terry Gilliam went through with Brazil.  Still, it’s hard to look at the assembled footage and see any hint that this film could have been anything more than the film that’s currently playing at your local theater.

When I told Arleigh about my feelings towards Dream House, he asked me if I felt it was the “worst one of the year.”  I wouldn’t go quite that far.  Dream House is forgettable but it’s not as pompous as The Conspirator or as insulting as Straw Dogs.

No, Dream House is not the worst.

It’s just bleh.