Let's say it right at the outset - this is a poor movie. Despite being talked up for numerous awards, there's no hiding the fact that this film fails to convince. And one cannot help thinking that it has been labelled a 'comedy' largely to cover up its prominent dramatic failings. Featuring graphic self-mutilation and an incoherent story-line, the laughs are few. Titter ye not!
Yes, the acting is generally good. Yes, the cinematography is good. But the plot is awful. Would anyone in their right mind go around cutting their fingers off just because an old friend, who admittedly behaves in a mule-like mannner, refuses to leave him alone?
If there is an allegorical intent - a few gunshots are heard from across the water - it is minimally exploited here, other than perhaps to reference the pointlessness of violence as a means of resolving impenetrable disputes. Amen to that.
My partner, who is herself Irish, summed it up by saying that the only thing that this film is likely to confirm is the widespread stereotype that the Irish are a bit bonkers.
I can hear the banshees wailing . . .
(Viewed at HOME, Manchester, UK 23 October 2022)
Yes, the acting is generally good. Yes, the cinematography is good. But the plot is awful. Would anyone in their right mind go around cutting their fingers off just because an old friend, who admittedly behaves in a mule-like mannner, refuses to leave him alone?
If there is an allegorical intent - a few gunshots are heard from across the water - it is minimally exploited here, other than perhaps to reference the pointlessness of violence as a means of resolving impenetrable disputes. Amen to that.
My partner, who is herself Irish, summed it up by saying that the only thing that this film is likely to confirm is the widespread stereotype that the Irish are a bit bonkers.
I can hear the banshees wailing . . .
(Viewed at HOME, Manchester, UK 23 October 2022)