Irish Film Marathon: Part 7

The Secret Of Kells reveals yet another side to Irish Cinema, one rather different from the other films I've explored as part of this marathon. It is an animation, and a very beautiful one.

The Secret Of The Kells isn't an entirely Irish film as it was funded by companies from all over Europe. However the story and themes of it are fundamentally Irish, so much so that this is probably the definitive Irish animation, of the ones I've seen so far anyway.

This is the first time I've attempted to review an animated film, and I will admit that I don't quite know how to go about it. But I'll do my best.

Irish Film Marathon: Part 6

Once is a film directed by John Carney and released in 2007. It was shot over a period of 17 days with a budget of about 180 thousand. Yet it went on to become one of the most successful independent films of the year earning near on 10 million as well as winning multiple awards including an Oscar (for Best Original Song).

It is a real critical favourite and one that I had been recommended many times before, but had never got around to watching it until now. I'm glad I did, as this is clearly the smallest of all the films chosen for this marathon and shows a different side to Ireland's film industry.

Irish Film Marathon: Part 5

My Left Foot is a film released in 1989 and directed by Jim Sheridan, one of Ireland's most acclaimed director, with who I'm afraid to say I'm not very familiar with as this is the first of his films I've seen.

It tells the tale of Christy Brown, an Irish painter and author who has suffered from cerebral palsy from the moment he was born, thus making him entirely paralysed with the sole exception of his left foot, hence the title.
It was very well received by critics and audience alike and won several prestigious awards including the coveted Best Actor as well as the Best Supporting Actress.
But the majority of the praise focused on the amazing performance by Daniel day Lewis in the titular role. Most of the awards for Best Actor went to him that year. But even removing DDL from the picture, the film remains a great one and in my opinion fully deserving of all the praise.

Irish Film Marathon: Part 4

I should have had this review up ages ago, but due to some technical problems with my PC and because I've been busier than usual, I didn't get the chance to write it up. Also it will be a bit shorter than the others.

The film which garnered the poorest reviews out of all the films chosen for thsi marathon would be Alan Parker's adaptation of Frank McCourt's classic biographical novel, Angela's Ashes.

I have vague memories of the book, which I read at a very young age, but I do remember enjoying it and some particular passages have stayed in my mind ever since.
But unfortunately critics and audiences alike seem to have thought it the adaptation failed to capture the greatness of the book. It received poor reviews, and flopped.

End Of The Week Post

 A slight improvement on the last week's viewing, but still not as many films as I would have liked:

The Great Silence 1968 directed by Sergio Curbucci
7/10

I don't believe I've ever seen a film try so persistently to subvert and deconstruct a genre than The Great Silence does.
It takes so many familiar elements of the genre and spins them completely on themselves, we have the very setting itself which is typically dry, dusty and hot transformed into a snowy wasteland, the bandits are portrayed as sympathetic and the bounty hunters as villainous, the classic "six shooter" of the hero is traded out for a automatic Mauser and the end is entirely unexpected and a complete reversal of what you may have come to expect from a Western.
It's a poorly made film, with awful dubbing, but it is saved by the sheer originality of it all, and of course by Kinski's and Trintignant's performances, as the rest of the cast are terrible. It's a fun film all around, not a masterpiece but as far as non-Leone Spaghetti Westerns go, this one was good.