The best -- and worst -- real Irish films ever
Though the rabbit-in-the-headlamps stupor that afflicts Oscar-winners should never be underestimated, it's a pity no one remembered to mention John Carney when Falling Slowly won best original song at the Academy Awards last weekend.
That song -- and a very fine song it is too -- was an important factor, but only part of the remarkable sleeper success of Carney's film, Once. Made on the streets of Dublin for a budget of less than €200,000, it's gone on to make more than €20 million, and has been praised to the skies in the US.
Once has even been compared to the classics of the French nouvelle vague, and the spontaneous feel and easy warmth of Carney's writing and directing certainly are impressive. But is it really all that good? And if so, could it be the best Irish film ever? Well it's certainly one of them, but there are a few other contenders.
When discussing the best Irish films, it's important first to all to dismiss ineligible contenders. Though made here and synonymous with a certain old-fashioned view of the auld sod, films like The Quiet Man and Ryan's Daughter are not Irish. Neither for that matter is The Wind That Shakes The Barley, though we were quick to claim it once it started winning awards.
While Ardmore Studios has a long and proud history, it was mainly engaged in pumping out films for the big British studios, and it wasn't until the 1980s that the fragile beginnings of a domestic film industry began producing films that could properly be described as Irish. Here are some of the best of them -- and a few of the worst.
The Crying Game (1992)
Neil Jordan has made an enormous contribution to our national cinema. Though Michael Collins (1996) was no slouch as a historical epic, and Film Ireland voted The Butcher Boy (1997) the best Irish film ever, The Crying Game is to date probably his most enduring film, with an ending that few will forget.
My Left Foot (1989)
Jim Sheridan's breakthrough film won two Oscars and put Irish cinema on the map. Daniel Day Lewis revealed his enormous potential as an actor with an astonishing protrayal of the disabled writer and painter Christy Brown in this truly moving film.
Sheridan has made other fine films, most notably In the Name of the Father (1993), but this is probably the closest to Irish hearts.
The Snapper (1993)
OK, so it was directed by an Englishman (Stephen Frears), but if you try and come up with the best Irish comedy this one has to be top of the list. For a brief time in the early '90s, the Roddy Doyle films became a mini-industry in themselves, and for me The Snapper was the most faithful to his books. Intermission may have had better production values and the odd car chase, but this film is way funnier.
Kings (2007)
An adaptation of a Jimmy Murphy play, Tom Collins' 2007 film bravely tackled a largely forgotten theme -- the generation of Irish exiles stranded in London. And what's more, it did so mainly in Irish. The ensemble cast of Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly and Brendan Conroy brought to life the dilemmas of London's ageing Irish labourers, who feel foreign there and strangers at home.
Garage (2007)
The newer breed of Irish directors and writers have tended to be more self-confidently original, and none more so than Lenny Abrahamson and Mark O'Halloran.
Their dark 2004 comedy, Adam & Paul, was a most impressive first feature, but with Garage they upped their game still further, coaxing a beautiful performance from Pat Shortt in a dark tale of rural dysfunction. This is art, and for me the best Irish film ever.
Attack of the 'Oirish'
Whatever about our own films, we've certainly brought out the worst in international filmmakers inspired by our supposedly emerald land. Who can forget the atrocious paddywhackery of Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a 1959 Disney extravaganza starring a deeply embarrassed-looking Sean Connery.
Then there was the truly ghastly Finian's Rainbow (1968), an atrocious musical about a leprechaun and a pot of gold. My own favourite, though, is Far and Away (1992) -- if they ever give out an Oscar for worst Irish accent, Tom Cruise is a shoe-in.
- Paul Whitington
