IRISH FILM and TELEVISION ‐ 2008 the Year in Review Tony Tracy (Ed.)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Estudios Irlandeses, Number 4, 2009, pp. 148-206 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ AEDEI IRISH FILM AND TELEVISION ‐ 2008 The Year in Review Tony Tracy (ed.) Irish Film and Television Review 2008 Tony Tracy ..............................................................................................................................149 In the Beginning: Ardmore Studios Celebrates 50 Barry Monahan .......................................................................................................................153 Kisses Ruth Barton .............................................................................................................................157 Hunger Seán Crosson............................................................................................................................160 Staging Space: Eden Harvey O’Brien .......................................................................................................................163 In Bruges Joan Dean ................................................................................................................................166 Entering the Dark Place: Visions of Irish Horror in Seer Zélie Asava .............................................................................................................................170 32A Roddy Flynn ............................................................................................................................174 Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin: Home insecurity in recent Irish Cinema Veronica Johnson ....................................................................................................................177 Tom Jordan Murphy: An Appreciation Michael Patrick Gillespie ........................................................................................................180 The Short Film and Irish Cinema Conn Holohan .........................................................................................................................184 Drawing Conclusions: Irish Animation and National Cinema Liam Burke .............................................................................................................................187 The Apprentice Gavin Titley ............................................................................................................................192 Fairytale of Katmandu Laura Canning .........................................................................................................................196 Bertie: Portrait of a Politician Under Suspicion Pat Brereton .............................................................................................................................199 Striapacha Tri Chead Bliain Duailcis Niamh O’Reilly .......................................................................................................................203 Copyright (c) 2009 by the authors. This text may be archived and redistributed both in electronic form and in hard copy, provided that the authors and journal are properly cited and no fee is charged for access. ________________________ ISSN 1699-311X 149 Estudios Irlandeses, Number 4, 2009, pp. 149-152 ______________________________________________________________________________________________ AEDEI Irish Film and Television Review 2008 Tony Tracy The fortunes of Irish cinema took a such reflections in his essay on the establishment paradoxical turn in 2008. Years of economic of Ardmore Studios as it turns fifty; a longtime boom turned to bust and with it went long-held symbol and bellwether of the mixed fortunes of ambitions for a sustained period of cinematic our film industry. We are also pleased to include creativity and even greatness. For most of a an essay on the late Tom Jordan Murphy, whose century the emergence – and then development – rare acting talent, according to Michael Patrick of Irish cinema had seemed stymied only by Gillespie, often rose above the material he was financial constraints. But in spite of tax breaks, able to find work in. And we make up for massive increases in the funding of the Irish Film omissions in earlier editions by the inclusion of Board and a proliferation of training and two short essays on genres which remain educational opportunities, indigenous cinema did stubbornly under examined in considerations of not rise on the tide of prosperity to command the Irish film: the short film and animation. attention and admiration generated by Irish In 2008 an impressive twenty-five IFB-backed theatre and literature over the past decade and a feature film projects started production, in half. Indeed Irish cinema in the past 5 years – addition to a number of animated features and despite noble efforts and individual successes – feature-length documentaries. This makes for has seemed less promising and less sure of itself something of a record. Although we were then at any time since the reconstitution of the surprised and delighted by the number of Irish IFB in 1993. There have been an ever-decreasing films showing at local and international festivals, number of films being made of diminishing finding an audience remains a stubborn and quality (with a few exceptions), fewer still challenging obstacle to the sector. While 2008 receiving distribution and a handful attracting saw theatrical releases for Alarm, A Film With wider audiences and comment. The paradox is Me in It, Kisses and Hunger, only Kisses and that just as we hit the most serious economic Hunger managed to achieve any critical mass at trough in decades there are renewed signs of the domestic box office. More surprising was the vigor in this most intermittent of cultural forms limited release achieved by the RTE funded of expressions. The reasons for such an upturn Eden (an adaptation of Eugene O’Brien’s play) are complex, various and not always clear but in both Dublin and on the east coast of the there is once again a strong lead being United States, proving that quality writing will demonstrated by the IFB who must take a large always attract an audience no matter how small part of the credit for renewed energy in the the production. Feature documentaries played a sector. small but credible part in the overall domestic This year’s Irish Film and Television Review cinema program with Seaview and Saviors the once again attempts to reflect the diversity of most notable productions. Films which have yet that activity in capsule form. In addition to a to be seen outside festivals include Seer, mix of single-title reviews of work on big and Ghostwood, Our Wonderful Home, Summer of small screens, we are pleased to include a the Flying Saucer and Anton. number of pieces which offer themes for broader For many, Hunger was the highlight of the considerations of Irish audiovisual production at Irish film year and while its director Steve this time. Barry Monahan offers us a context for McQueen is an English artist of international _______________________ ISSN 1699-311X 150 renown its script was by Dublin-born (London teenagers who embark on an overnight odyssey resident) playwright Enda Walsh. Walsh of through Dublin. While Daly has demonstrated a course is best known for his play (and distinctive and individual cinematic sensibility in screenplay) for Disco Pigs but his spare and earlier films (Last Days in Dublin, The Halo compelling script for the Bobby Sands story Effect) Kisses marked a maturing of style and pushed the Troubles out of a narrow narrative technique and can be placed alongside both Once territory to a wider audience and set of concerns and Adam and Paul in particular in terms of a and brought the film a slew of prestigious peripatetic structure and a more European tone awards. Additionally, Walsh’s plays The and aesthetic. It received a decent domestic Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom release and extensive marketing by its local played on national and international stages distributor signaling an encouraging faith in less throughout the year to widespread acclaim, generic and more ‘arty’ filmmaking in a cinema making 2008 a breakthrough year for a really marketplace largely shaped by predictable impressive talent. patterns of genre, star and ‘cross–platform’ Both Hunger and The Walworth Farce products. intersected with Ireland’s long and complex That is not to say that Irish cinema has relationship with the United Kingdom and both – dispensed with genre; albeit with local thematically and in their respective production inflections. Horror and supernatural subjects circumstances – can be understood as enlarging continue to be the choice for young and the terms of reference of a national experienced filmmakers, and several local cinema/culture in interesting ways. In addition to productions – Seer, The Daisy Chain, Bog the success of Tommy Collins’ Kings, it is Bodies, Ghostwood – were seen and heard of at interesting to see the Irish Diaspora in Britain festivals but none have so far registered in the now producing challenging meditations on this wider marketplace. Gerard Stembridge made a knotty and ongoing association. Evidence of this valiant, if mistimed, contribution to the uneven relationship was present in far less direct terms history of Irish thrillers with Alarm which in In Bruges by the most famous representative combined his typically keen sense of topicality of the English Irish Diaspora, Martin McDonagh. with elements of Hitchcock. But the film clearly With this inventive, violent and