Tag Archives: movie

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: The Crying Game (dir by Neil Jordan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Directed by Neil Jordan and first released in 1992, The Crying Game opens at a fair in Northern Ireland.  A black British soldier named Jody (Forest Whitaker) meets a flirtatious woman named Jude (Miranda Richardson).  Jude leads Jody away from the fairground.  Jody thinks that they’re going to have sex but instead, he ends up getting kidnapped by Fergus (Stephen Rea) and Peter Maguire (Adrian Dunbar).  As Peter explains it after Jody is taken to an abandoned cottage, the soldier is now a prisoner of the Irish Republican Army.

Jody is left in a dark room, tied to a chair and with a canvas bad over his head.  Fergus is often left to guard him.  Despite Peter’s explicit orders, Fergus talks to Jody and the two men strike up an uneasy friendship.  Fergus removes the bag from Jody’s head.  He even reveals his name.  Jody and Fergus talk about their lives.  Jody says he joined the Army and was immediately sent to the most racist part of the UK.  Fergus replies that his only issue with Jody is that “you shouldn’t be over here.”  Jody talks about his love of cricket.  Fergus talks about his love of hurling.  Fergus sees a picture of Jody with his lover, Dil (Jaye Davidson).  Fergus comments that Dil is attractive.  “She’s not your type,” Jody replies.

Peter warns Fergus not to become friends with Jody because there’s a good chance that they’re going to have to execute him.  And when the British refuse to exchange prisoners, the order does come down to carry out the execution.  Fergus demands that he be allowed to carry out the shooting.  However, as he leads Jody out of the cottage, Jody breaks free.  Fergus chases him but, as they reach a nearby road, Fergus realizes that he can’t bring himself to kill Jody.  Unfortunately, Jody is still killed when he’s run over by a British army truck.

Fergus flees to London and, after getting a job as a construction worker, he tries to lay low and track down Dil.  Dil, however, turns out to be not quite was Fergus was expecting.  It turns out that Jody didn’t reveal every aspect of his life while he was trapped in that cottage.  Meanwhile, Jude and Peter both show up in London and demand that Fergus help them execute “some judge.”

The Crying Game is a twisty and engaging thriller, one that is best known for the twist involving Dil’s identity but which is also a thought-provoking look at the assumptions we make about each other and the roles that people feel forced to play.  Fergus doesn’t really have it in him to be a terrorist or an assassin but it’s the role that he feels he’s been forced into by his desire to see the British leave Northern Ireland.  Jody turns out to have a few secrets of his own and, once their revealed, his eagerness to go off with Jude is seen in an entirely new light.  Jude and Peter present themselves as being honorable freedom fighters but their actions often seem to suggest the opposite.  In the end, the only character who is truly comfortable with their nature is Dil.  Both Stephen Rea and Jaye Davidson more than deserved their Oscar nominations.  Their chemistry goes a long way towards making this a thriller that sticks with you.

The Crying Game was nominated for several Oscars but lost the majority of them to Unforgiven.  (Both Stephen Rea and Clint Eastwood lost Best Actor to Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman.)  However, Neil Jordan did win an Oscar for his clever screenplay.  Rea has continued to act.  Davidson, who reportedly hated the fame that came with appearing in The Crying Game, appeared in one more film before retiring.

#MondayMuggers present THE MEAN SEASON (1985) starring birthday boy, Kurt Russell!

Posted on by Bradley Crain

Every Monday night at 9:00 Central Time, my wife Sierra and I host a “Live Movie Tweet” event on X using the hashtag #MondayMuggers. We rotate movie picks each week, and our tastes are quite different. Tonight, Monday March 17th, we celebrate Kurt Russell’s 74th birthday by watching THE MEAN SEASON (1985) co-starring Mariel Hemingway, Richard Jordan, Richard Masur, Richard Bradford, Joe Pantoliano, and Andy Garcia. 

Kurt Russell plays Malcolm Anderson, a reporter for a Miami newspaper. He’s had enough of reporting the local murders, so he promises his school teacher girlfriend (Mariel Hemingway) that they’ll move away soon. Before Malcolm can hand in his notice, the murderer (Richard Jordan) from his latest article phones him. The murderer tells Malcolm that he’s going to kill again. The phone calls and murders continue, and soon Malcolm finds that he’s not just reporting the story, he is the story.

We thought it would be fun to join The Shattered Lens and make Kurt Russell our centerpiece for the day. There’s absolutely nothing more enjoyable to me than watching movies with friends. And If you enjoy Russell, Miami, and serial killer thrillers, you should like this one. So, join us tonight for #MondayMuggers and watch THE MEAN SEASON! It’s on Amazon Prime.

The trailer for the THE MEAN SEASON is included below:

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.

Monday Live Tweet Alert: Join Us for Operation Lipstick!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon.  I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We snark our way through it.

Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1967’s Operation Lipstick!

It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in.  If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Operation Lipstick on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!

Enjoy!

 

Love On The Lens: Once (dir by John Carney)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

First released in 2007, Once tells the story of two people who fall in love in Dublin.

Or maybe they don’t.

Really, it depends on how you look at it.

Guy (Glen Hansard) is the son of a man who owns a machine repair shop.  He spends his days standing on a street corner in Dublin, playing his guitar and singing song that he’s written.  Guy is polite and mild-mannered and probably the nicest guy you could ever expect to meet on a street corner.  He’s also incredibly talented, singing his songs with an emotional intensity that demands you stop and listen.  Guy is haunted by a lost love, a woman he dated but then broke up with.  She now lives in London and Guy always wonders, “What if?”

Girl (Marketa Irglova) is originally from the Czech Republic.  She sells flowers and magazines.  She lives at home with her mother and her toddler.  He husband is still back in their home country.  Girl is a musician as well, though she had to leave her piano behind when she came to Ireland.  She hears Guy singing and becomes intrigued.  The fact that she needs her vacuum cleaner (her “hoover” as she puts it) repaired gives her an excuse to keep seeing Guy.  Soon, they’re friends and they’re writing music and even recording a demo tape of their songs.  If Guy goes to London, he wants to take the tape with him because the songs and the music express his emotions more eloquently than he can with just words.

Do Guy and Girl fall in love?

I believe that they they do but then again, I’m a born romantic and it’s hard not to get swept up in the chemistry that’s shared between Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.  (They were a couple when they filmed Once and one need only watch them onscreen together to see why.)  I think that Guy and Girl did fall in love, even if the film concludes without them physically acting on those feelings.

But it’s also possible that I’m wrong.  Once is as much a celebration of friendship as it is a love story and it’s possible that Guy and Girl, despite their obvious attraction, never quite reached the point of falling love.  It’s possible that they were utlimately just two close friends who loved creating music together.

Shot on the streets of Dublin on a low budget and featuring likable performances from a cast largely made up of nonprofessionals, Once is a truly special film.  It was my favorite film of 2007 and it definitely has a place on my list of the top films of all time.  The music, the location shooting, the chemistry between Hansard and Irglova, the extended sequence where Guy records his demo tape, all of them come together to create a truly unforgettable and ultimately very touching film.  It’s a film that celebrates not just love and friendship but also the act of artistic expression.  It’s film about creating something that will live forever and touch the souls of the people who hear it.

I’m not typically one to get involved in following the personal lives of celebrities.  But I will admit that I was sincerely saddened when, in 2009, I heard that Hansard and Irglova had broken up.  They seemed so perfect together but, then again, movies are movies and real life is real life.  Once is truly a special movie and, in the end, that’s what truly matters.

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special St. Patrick’s Day Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

It’s St. Patrick’s Day so it’s time for….

4 Shots From 4 Films About Ireland

The Informer (1935, directed by John Ford. Cinematography by Joseph August)

The Quiet Man (1952, dir by John Ford, DP: Winston C. Hoch)

Ryan’s Daughter (1970, dir by David Lean, DP: Freddie Young)

The Butcher Boy (1998, dir by Neil Jordan, DP: Adrian Biddle)

 

Film Review: The Van (dir by Stephen Frears)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

1996’s The Van opens with a depressed Bimbo Reeves (Donal O’Kelly) attempting to drink away his troubled thoughts.  As he explains to his friend, Larry (Colm Meaney), he has been “made redundant.”  After two decades of working at a Dublin bakery, he has lost his job and, it would appear, his reason for living.

Now, I have to stop right here and point out how disturbing that term sounds.  “Made redundant,” sounds like the worst possible way to tell someone that they’re out a job.  Admittedly, I don’t live in Ireland or in the UK.  Perhaps if I did and if had grown up hearing the term, it wouldn’t disturb me quite so much.  But, to my American ears, being told that you’re redundant feels like not only being stabbed  but also then having the blade twisted.  Not only are you out of a job but you’re also useless.  You’re redundant.  Here in America, we tell people that they’ve been “fired,” and that obviously carries some disturbing connotations with it as well.  The original people to be fired were people who lost their jobs as a result of being burned at the stake.  But somehow, going up in flames seems preferable to being told that you’re totally and completely useless.

Bimbo is depressed.  Larry, who has a much more easy-going nature than his friend, tries to cheer him up.  Afterall, Bimbo has his “redundancy check.”  Bimbo and his wife, Maggie (Ger Ryan), purchase a food van and Bimbo decides to go into business for himself.  He’ll sell food from his van.  After refurbishing the van (which truly did look horrible when it was initially purchased), he’s ready to go into business with Larry as his only employee.

It seems like a good idea and, at first, the food van is a success.  Ireland is doing well in the World Cup and it leads to a lot of hungry customers.  Unfortunately, it also leads to conflict between Bimbo and Larry as they discover that being a boss and being an employee is a lot different than just being friends.  In the end, the question becomes what is more important, the business or the friendship?

Based on a novel by Roddy Doyle, The Van is the third part of the Barrytown trilogy.  Despite being named Larry in this film instead of Des, Colm Meaney is basically playing the same character that he played in The Commitments and The Snapper.  (Though I’m not sure, I think the film’s opening “1990” title card is meant to let us know that The Van is actually a prequel to those two films.)  It’s also the least engaging of the three films, largely because it doesn’t have the narrative momentum provided by the music in The Commitments or the pregnancy in The Snapper.  Instead, it’s just a story of two friends who get on each other’s nerves.  Donal O’Kelly doesn’t give a bad performance as Bimbo but he’s still overshadowed by Colm Meaney’s charismatic and larger-than-life Larry.  As a result, there’s not much of a question as to which friend the audience will side with.  Even though Bimbo’s complaints are often justified, we’re on Larry’s side all the way.

The Van is not a particularly memorable film but the message still comes through.  Life goes on, in both Dublin and elsewhere.

 

Film Review: The Snapper (dir by Stephen Frears)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Sharon Curley (Tina Kellegher) is 20 years old, a member of a large, working class Dublin family.  Her father is Des Curley (Colm Meaney), plain-spoken, a bit old fashioned, but also someone who sincerely loves his family and works hard to give them the best that he can.  Des is someone who brags about the fact that he hasn’t cried in over 20 years.  Of course, when he says that, he means that he hasn’t cried sober.  Crying drunk, especially while watching the World Cup, doesn’t count.

Speaking of drinking, one night out with her friends leads to Sharon finding herself pregnant.  As Sharon is young and unmarried, the identity of the father becomes a subject of gossip in her close-knit neighborhood.  At first, Sharon refuses to tell anyone who the father is.  Eventually, she confesses that the father was a Spanish sailor who picked her up and gave her the greatest night of passion of her life.  Of course, Sharon’s lying.  The father is actually a rather unimpressive middle-aged man named George Burgess (Pat Laffan).  George picked her up while she was inebriated.  He’s the type of person who kept her panties after they had sex but expects to be thanked for not showing them to his friends.  George reacts to the prospect of becoming a father by disappearing.

Sharon struggles, with both the gossip and the knowledge that her neighbors, people who she has known her entire life, are judging her for being pregnant and unmarried.  Continually, she is asked, “Who are you having the baby for?,” as if she’s doing a favor for the man who knocked her up and then abandoned her.  Sharon decides to keep the baby and even has a laugh at the thought of naming it Georgina.  Des, at first, has a hard time understanding Sharon’s decision but eventually, he supports his daughter.  He even reads all of the pamphlets on pregnancy and giving birth.  When a young man at the hospital mentions that he’s waiting on the delivery of his third child, Des offers him a pamphlet on “family planning.”

Made for British television and released theatrically in 1993, The Snapper is based on a book by Roddy Doyle.  The book was a sequel to The Commitments but, because 20th Century Fox owned the rights to The Commitments, the family’s name was changed for the film version of The Snapper.  The Rabbittes became the Curleys and there’s certainly no mention of the fact that Sharon’s brother once managed a soul band.  That said, Colm Meaney reprises his role as the befuddled but loving family patriarch. He and Tina Kellegher give performances in The Snapper that feel authentic and honest.  Every laugh, every smile, and even every tear feels earned.

Much as The Commitments did with music, The Snapper uses a domestic drama, the type that has inspired countless glossy films, to examine the realities of being working class in 20th Century Dublin.  With the tight-knit community full of judgment and not much support, Sharon learns who she can and cannot depend on but she also learns that’s she’s far stronger than anyone, including herself, knew.  The Snapper is a wonderful snapshot of life.

Musical Film Review: The Commitments (dir by Alan Parker)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

First released in 1991 and based on a novel by Roddy Doyle, The Commitments is the story of a manager with a dream and a band with a chip on its collective shoulder.

Living in working class Dublin, Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) dreams of managing a band.  He’s a fan of old school soul and rock and roll music, the type that was played by black artists in the American South.  Jimmy feels that the Irish have a special connection to that music because, as he explains it, “the Irish are the blacks of Europe.”  (I think one could argue that the black people living in Europe are the blacks of Europe but we’ll go with it.  I understand Jimmy’s argument, even if it is the sort of thing that would send social media into a tizzy if it were made today.)  Jimmy puts an ad in the paper and discovers that there are a lot of aspiring musicians in Ireland and very few of them know much about soul music.  Even Jimmy’s father (a delightful Colm Meaney) seems to believe that he could be a part of the band.  In the end, Jimmy puts together the band himself, recruiting an unlikely collection of friends and barely know acquaintances.  He finds a lead singer in the talented but unruly Deco Cuffe (Andrew Strong), a pianist in the religious Steven (Michael Aherne), a saxophonist in Dean Fay (Felim Gormley), a guitarist in Outspan Foster (Glen Hansard), and three back-up singers in Bernie (Bronagh Gallagher), Imelda (Angeline Ball), and Natalie (Maria Doyle).  He also finds a mentor in trumpeter Joey “The Lips” Fagan (Johnny Murphy), an American who claims to have played with everyone who is anyone and who names the band The Commitments.  They’re a working class band and one that doesn’t always mix well with each other.  Deco’s gets on everyone’s nerves from the start but, as Dean puts it at the unemployment office, he’s much happier being a saxophonist on the dole than a plumber’s assistant on the dole.

There’s a raw energy to The Commitments, as both a film and a band.  Both the film’s comedy and its music comes from a very real pain.  No one in the film is rich.  No one has been given much of a chance by British society.  Deco may be obnoxious but he also epitomizes the wild spirt of someone who refuses to be tamed by society.  Jimmy Rabbitte may occasionally be a bit in over his head but it’s hard not to admire his refusal to surrender.  From the minute the band comes together, it’s obvious that they’re not going to last.  Nearly every gig ends in disaster and Joey, despite his knowledge of soul, is a bit rigid in his demands of the band.  When Dean improvises, Joey acts as if it’s the end of the world that Dean would rather play jazz than soul.  Joey sees jazz as being elitist.  Dean sees it as being a way to express his own artistic vision.  The wonderful thing about The Commitments is that they’re both allowed to be right.

The band might not last but the film leaves you happy that they still had their moment.  The Commitments is a film that feels alive, not just with artistic desire but with the anger of people who have been pushed to the side by the establishment.  For a while, the band gives them a chance to express that anger and, afterwards, it’s gratifying to see that the majority of the members still carry the legacy of The Commitments with them, with some members continuing to pursue music and others returning to their everyday lives in Dublin.  It’s a good film, one that celebrates both music and humanity.