Laurie McKeown: Blog

Irish Film Conclusion

Fri, 14 Apr 2017 16:26:36 GMT

Thanks for following my journey through 13 weeks of Irish film.

I hope you get to watch some of these movies and provide some feedback on this blog. Please post any other films that you might think would be of interest. Do you have a specific genre that you enjoy or a recommendation of other foreign films? Here are some other Irish films I have watched and recommend.

The Field (1990) by Jim Sheridan - Independent/Historical fiction

Maeve (1982) by Pat Murphy - Her story

Films I wish to see:

Anne Devlin (1984) by Pat Murphy (looking for the DVD) - Her story/biography

Breakfast on Pluto (2005) by Neil Jordan - Queer Cinema

Dollhouse (2012) by Kristen Sheridan - Youth Cinema

Shrooms (2007) by Paddy Breathnach - Horror

The Hallow (2015)

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 04:04:00 GMT

Irish Horror! The film The Hallow has all the classic elements of a horror flick. The film directed by Corin Hardy brings Irish folklore creatures to life in order to terrorize a British couple that are trespassing in the woods. Hardy’s talent for special effects is quite evident in this film by using lots of authentic Celtic mythology. Not only does he introduce the audience to the creatures of Irish folklore but Hardy plays on the history between Ireland and Britain subtly in his story line, while blending mythology and science. The story line revolves around a tree doctor and his wife and infant son, who come to live in the woods in Ireland in order evaluate the forest for development. The locals are unreceptive to the couple and continually warn them about trespassing on the Hallow. There is very little narrative but scenes are full of chemically mutating slime, zombie like creatures, darkness interrupted by flashes of light and isolation.

The historical interpretation can be perceived, as the couple is British, they move into the ‘big’ house in the countryside while the local Irish wish them to leave. This draws parallels to the Anglo-Irish landlords in the 17^th to the 20^th century and the colonization of Ireland by Britain.

This film is very fast paced with very little dialogue transitioning from one scary scene to the next. This film could be classified as Eco-Horror playing on the fears of the environment fighting back.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU1StZXrExs

Disco Pigs (2001)

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 15:21:00 GMT

This film is based on a production by Edna Walsh, which was first performed at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork, Ireland. The play is based on two teenagers who have grown up together since infancy, living next door to each other and speaking a private language that only they understand. For example, they live in Cork City, which they refer to as Pork Sity and call each other by pet names, the male character is Pig and the female character is Runt. Their attachment to each other has a twin like nature; they’re every day routine identical. The film was directed by Kirsten Sheridan and released in 2001 with the same name. The film portrays the two teenagers as social outcasts, both exhilarated by violence and bullying. Flashbacks to their childhood provide some explanations of their family situations and the audience develops some sense of reasoning behind their rebellious behaviour. After a series of violent acts, Runt is sent to an intervention centre to learn a trade with the understanding that she can be rehabilitated; while it was believed that Pig has no hope of being reformed. It is at this point when Pig feels more than friendship for Runt, he wants to move past their childhood infatuation and develop at man/woman relationship. Damien (Pig) is mentally and physically lost without Sinead (Runt) and sets out to find her in order to celebrate her birthday. The celebration turns to jealousy, violence and murder. Ric Knowles stated in his article on “Extract on Disco Pigs,” that Disco Pigs (the play) performed in Toronto received some ungenerous criticism, it was thought that the characters did not generate any valid sympathy and were rebellious pain in the butt teenagers. I also had the same sentiment, wondering where the adults and authorities were to enforce discipline or responsibility in their lives. I realized as Knowles points out, that this film needs to be viewed in the setting in which it was originally intended for, Fringe theatre, where plays are often performed late at night and in the environment of it’s characters. The movie does an excellent job in isolating the main characters, which causes the audience to be either sympathetic or insensitive.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Knowle, Ric. “Extract on Disco Pigs.” Reading the Material Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. P 195-200.

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H98Njk29bU

32A (2007)

Wed, 29 Mar 2017 20:05:00 GMT

This ‘coming-of-age’ film tells the story of a 14-year-old girl, Maeve Brennan and her journey through adolescences from her first bra to her first heartbreak. Written and directed by Marian Quinn and shot in Dublin, this film has all the realities that most 14-year-old girls deal with in 1979. Maeve and her three best friends are experiencing the ‘in-between’ stage of no longer being a child and yet, not quite a woman. These four friends are totally inseparable, facing the world together as young women, yet Quinn gives each of the girls their own unique personalities with each facing their own set of family problems. The film opens up with Maeve trying out her fist bra, which her friends express their approval. The one exception is that this transformation into womanhood is not shared by her feminist friend Claire, who refuses to wear a bra. Regardless, her friends inform Maeve that this new bra is her gateway into maturity and her entrance in to the world of dating.

The Coming-of-age genre has its origins in the German Bildungsroman, a literary category that chronicles a young man’s development into maturity. The main character of a Bildungsroman searches for answers and hopes to gain knowledge and wisdom, but this knowledge comes with conflict and disappointment. Although the Bildungsroman was based on a male perspective, Quinn’s female version of Bildungsroman leads us into the lives of four coming-of-age friends and their journey for enlightenment. Maeve goes through a personal transformation when she starts dating an older boy and ends up alienating her friends to spend time with him. After her first kiss and first slow dance, he dumps Maeve when he is attracted to an older girl. In a Bildungsroman, the objective at the end is maturity, in which the main character accepts their mistakes and moves on. Maeve realizes that she let her friends down and that having a boyfriend was not the most important issue in her life. In the end, Maeve is a little bit more mature and wiser. She reunites with her friends and Claire finally gets herself a bra.

I would recommend this film to my female friends; I am not so sure a male audience would enjoy it quite so much. At times it is a bit hard to understand the words due to the Irish accents.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Source: McWilliams, Ellen. "The Coming of Age of the Female Bildungsroman." Margaret Atwood and the Female Bildungsroman. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009. 1-12.

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dysIJlVXE0g

The Crying Game (1992)

Wed, 22 Mar 2017 20:04:00 GMT

In the 1990s B. Ruby Rich describes that Queer cinema appeals to the norm and that it’s completely marketable. Transgender persons feel that Queer cinema provides a voice for them and that film provides the perfect medium which gives them exposure. Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game is one such film. Jordan, an Irish born producer and writer is known for his historical drama Michael Collins (1996) and the drama Mona Lisa (1986). The Crying Game is about an IRA member Fergus, who falls in love with the girlfriend (Dil) of a British soldier he kidnapped and murdered in Ireland. While guarding the prisoner, Jody (the British soldier) and Fergus forms an unlikely friendship and promises to look up Jody’s girlfriend if Jody is killed. Jody ends up dying and Fergus escapes a British military raid and flees to London. Suffering from guilt at the death of Jody, Fergus tracks Dil and ends up falling in love with her.

**Spoiler alert! Dil invites Fergus up to her flat and they are about to make love when Dil reveals she is transgender. The scene is heart wrenching and while Fergus vomits in disgust, Dil is devastated by his revulsion. Meanwhile the IRA tracks Fergus down and requests him to fulfill a mission, to assassinate a London Judge and if he doesn’t comply then his girlfriend Dil will be killed. Fergus still has feelings for Dil and he tries to protect her from the IRA.

This film helps us rethink gender identities and places into context female sexuality and whether trans genders try to deceive or pass as women. This is a complex film on so many levels and full of multiple deceptions. Dil, the transgender female does not hide the fact that she is transgender; she lives her life as a female without explanation. It was Fergus who walked into her world and naively expected her to be what he believed to be a ‘natural’ woman and seduces her. Before Dil’s reveal, the audience was under the assumption that Dil was a female by stereotypically identifying her as female by her appearance and mannerisms. Contrariwise the ‘natural’ woman in the movie, Jude, an IRA member uses her sexuality to deceive and capture the British soldier. Fergus himself deceives Dil, he gives her a false name and lies to her about knowing Jody.

Julia Serano, a transgender person feels that people classify gender base on visual cues and a ton of assumption. This is evident in The Crying Game.

I would classify this movie as an action thriller and I would highly recommend it. I would also recommend the source reading by Julia Serrano, it is very enlightening.

Great soundtrack.

Sources:

Class notes, Dr. Emer O’Toole’s slides.

Serrano, Julia. “Skirt Chaser: Why the Media Represents the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels.” Whipping Girl. NY: Seal Press, 2007. P 33-52.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vs_4-QQACo

Hunger (2008)

Wed, 15 Mar 2017 19:46:00 GMT

Hunger is set in the infamous H-block of the Maze prison in Belfast 1981. IRA men incarcerated there were no longer considered political prisoners. According to then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, there was no such thing as political violence , it was criminal violence and therefore there was no status as a political prisoner, they were considered criminal prisoners. Upon withdrawal of the Special Category Status, the prisoners refused to wear the prison uniforms, striped naked of their clothing they wore the blankets off their bunks. Being dressed in the uniform was the rule for using the bathrooms and because of the refusal to wear the prison garb; they resorted to smearing the walls with faeces and urinating under the door into the corridor. This became known as the ‘dirty protest.’ When the British government refused to enter into negotiations to end the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland and the status of being a political prisoner was denied, ten inmates voluntarily decided to go on a hunger strike and starve themselves to death. Steve McQueen’s film Hunger focuses on Bobby Sands who led the hunger strike of 1981. In the film McQueen shows the brutality and violence within the Maze, from the degrading cavity searches to the violent washings.

The story is told with very little dialogue, McQueen let the camera tells most of the story. Donal Foreman explains that the best scripts don’t make the best films, what makes a film great can’t be reduced to words on a page. Seán Crossan agrees that the cinematography in Hunger allows the audience to engage in the moment with out the need for dialogue.

The most striking scene in the film is a conversation between Sands and a Catholic priest. Although I found this scene a little over rehearsed, it explained what has happened in the film and what is going to happen and why. The two discuss Bobby’s decision to go on a hunger strike. The priest feels that the British government won’t give a danm about prisoners starving themselves to death and that he should think of his family and the other prisoners who have signed on to starve. Sands feel he needs to control the situation, to fight for his sense of identity.

McQueen avoids the martyrdom of Bobby Sands in this film and reflects on the vulnerability of the human body but the strength of the human spirit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sources:

Crossan, Seán. ‘Review of Hunger.’ Estudios Irlandeses 4. 2009. P 160-162.

Foreman, Donal. What’s Missing from Irish Cinema. http://www.donalforeman.com/writing/hunger.html. Accessed on march 18, 2017.

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw7WJLZmVF4

Nora (2000)

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 21:04:00 GMT

The saying goes that, “Behind every successful man there is a woman” but history is often about men and women are often all but written out of historical narratives. Pat Murphy tries to change this by making films that bring important historical women to the forefront. Murphy tries to give a reliable account of these women when there is essentially nothing written about them. Using Brenda Maddox’s biography of Nora Barnacle, Murphy brings ‘herstory’ to the screen and presents the life of Nora, James Joyce’s wife who was a key figure in a lot of his work. Like most wives of famous men, Nora was sufficiently covered in the biographies of her husband. Nora deals with a strong willed young woman, which allows Murphy, as a female director to bring a distinctively resilient female voice to Nora Barnacle. Hélène Cixous, a French feminist feels that there is a need for a new feminine way of writing and that women must write about women, for too long writing has essentially been fashioned by men for men. Cixous’s call to arms in her concept of the Ecriture Feminine is seen in Murphy’s film Nora where the story of Nora Barnacle is written and directed from a feminist perspective, emphasizing the role of the female character.

Nora Barnacle claims her own identity in this film, and it’s made clear that she was Joyce’s inspiration, although she rarely read anything he wrote.

The story begins with their meeting in Dublin in 1904, where she is a chambermaid and has recently left home in Galway.. He convinces her to go away with him to Trieste to live outside of matrimony, a taboo for an Irish Catholic girl. The film takes the audience through her life with Joyce in Trieste, as she puts up with his drinking and jealousy. I recommend this movie, even if you are not familiar with James Joyce and Nora Barnacle.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sources:

Cixous, Hélène. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Signs. 1.4. 1976. P 875-893.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT367gsMEvo

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 21:04:00 GMT

There was a war going on in Ireland in 1920, the war for an independent Irish Free State. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was committed through armed force to obtain complete independence from Britain. The IRB planned the Easter Rising of 1916, which led to the founding of the first Dáil Éireann, an Irish parliament in 1919. The Dáil was outlawed by Britain and the republic went underground and established the Irish Republican Army. The IRA (no association with the Northern IRA during the ‘troubles’) used the social revolutionary tactics of guerilla warfare by using local flying columns to ambush and attack British military units. The Wind that Shakes the Barley is set during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) and into the first part of the Irish Civil War (1922-1923). Director Ken Loach’s historical drama tells the fictional story of two brothers, Teddy and Damien O’Donovan who join the IRA to fight for Irelands’ independence. The opening scenes set the tone of the movie and reveal the plight of Irish oppression by British military forces, as Damien witnesses the fatal beating of a young boy by the Black and Tans, for refusing to give his name in English. Donal Ó Drisceoil suggests in his paper that the refusal to give his name in English and using the Irish language symbolically shows his distinctiveness as an Irishman. The film deals with the violence from both sides, from the perspective of the IRA and their justification of internal executions to the shootings of British soldiers, and the British soldier’s perspective that they were performing their duty as soldiers. As brutal as the Black and Tans were known to be in history, there was an interesting statement in the film by a British officer who admits that most of the men, who were demobilized soldiers from the First War, were ‘broken’ and undoubtedly suffering from shell shock (now known as PTSD).

Ken Loach does a superb job in humanizing history and putting a face to the people that were involved in this historical period. By using the two characters of Teddy and Damien, he allows the audience to relate to them, which permits the viewer to be pulled into that violent period of Irish history, enabling them to feel and live the experience. Most historical films start with the beginning of a historical period and follow it to the end. In The Wind that Shakes the Barley, we enter the story in the middle of the War of Independence and then to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which divides the two brothers, each supporting the opposite side in the Civil War. As the film ends the Civil War is just under way, but the story of the O’Donovan brothers comes to an end.

I strongly suggest this movie for anyone interested in history and military conflicts.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sources:

Ó Drisceoil, Donal. Framing the Irish Revolution: Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Radical History Review. 104. 2009. P 5-15.

Great song by The Irish Descendants from Newfoundland : "Come Out Ye' Black and Tans"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCnGD6xv5ik

Hush-a Bye-Baby (1990)

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 19:37:00 GMT

Hush-A-Bye-Baby was co-written by Margo Harkin and Stephanie English. The film was Harkin’s directorial debut, shot on 16mm film in Derry and Donegal, Northern Ireland. The story is set in Derry in 1984 and was influenced by the Ireland first referendum on abortion in 1983. The film tackles the issues of an unwanted teenage pregnancy and the oppression of women’s rights under the Catholic Church. This film is not only about the right’s denied a woman seeking an abortion but it also focuses on the attitudes of ignorance that girls have towards their sexuality brought on by strict Catholic doctrine.

The film reflects the true story of a 15-year-old schoolgirl, Anne Lovett who died giving birth in a field next to a statue of the Virgin Mary. Fidelma Farley wrote an article examining the reasons for this tragic event. Farley feels a paradox between the two “unwed” mothers, while one is sanctified and adored; the other is isolated and ashamed. Anne Lovett didn’t confide her pregnancy to her mother but turned to a statue that idealizes motherhood, yet the church demoralizes women who find themselves pregnant and unwed.

Hush-A-Bye-Baby is a the story about a 15 year old schoolgirl, Goretti Friel and her three of her good friends, all living in the Catholic ghetto in Derry, Northern Ireland. Goretti meets Ciarán at an Irish language class and a romance begins. Ciarán is arrested and sent to prison, and Goretti finds herself pregnant and alone. Vowing to tell her parents after Christmas about the baby, Goretti turns to the Virgin Mary for comfort. Through out the film there are reoccurring images of the Virgin Mary, which she begins to notice all around her and they even come to her in her dreams. Their Catholic up bringing catches Goretti and her friends between the freedom of their sexuality and their repression of their sexuality. Goretti tries to miscarry by drinking a concoction of gin and castor oil, naïvely she wonders if a miscarriage is the same as an abortion, the latter being classified as murder.

The legality of abortion is still an issue today

The end of the movie leaves the audience with a bit of a mystery. Is she miscarrying or is she in labour?

The legality of abortion is still an issue today in Ireland and I feel that films such as Hush-A-Bye-Baby tackle these social issues bringing woman’s rights to the forefront.

Interestingly while writing this blog, I thought of the bills being passed in the United States today, Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans federal funding for international health organizations that perform abortions—or even provide information about them in their family planning services.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sources:
Farley, Fidelma. Interrogating Myths of Maternity in Irish Cinema: Margo Harkin’s “Hush-A-Bye-Baby.” Irish University Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 Fall-Winter 1999. P 219-237

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0itR92g6EwY

Poitín (1978)

Wed, 08 Feb 2017 21:05:00 GMT

The title of the film Poitín is named for the moonshine that is made in Ireland but made illegal by the British government. This film was first aired on the Irish public television station, the RTÉ on St. Patrick’s Day in 1979. The Irish public was outraged with the film and wanted it banned. It was felt that Poitín depicted the rural West of Ireland to be uncivilized and violent. The film was produced by Cinegael and was written and directed by Irish born filmmaker Bob Quinn in 1978. Quinn’s works reject Hollywood norms, choosing instead to make films that illustrate the Irish living in harsh rural areas under the struggle of colonialism. Jerry White argues that Quinn’s films have enough radical political views to place his films in the category of Third Cinema. He achieves this by filming in rural economically depressed regions where people speak a nonurban language. Poitín is a fiction film that plays upon many of the concepts of a documentary by using actors as well as locals and by emphasizing the everyday lives of people. Third cinema is anti-Hollywood, using political tools to fight the system. Fernando Solanas and Octavio Gettino founded this film movement in Latin America and together wrote a manifesto “Toward a Third Cinema” which opposed Hollywood films and produced many films about neo-colonialism. They believe that political art (films) cannot have artistic licence.

Poitín was filmed on location on the rural Connemara islands in western Ireland. Quinn departs from the classical Hollywood norms of sweeping green landscapes, romance and happy endings as we saw in the film The Quiet Man and shoots Poitín on black and white 16mm grainy film. British history has portrayed the Irish speakers as a backward people, and to play into the authenticity of this struggle of neo-colonialism by Britain, Quinn shoots the movie in the Gaelic language adding English subtitles.

The storyline is about an old poitín maker who lives in an isolated cottage with his adult daughter and he employs the two main characters to sell his moonshine. When the police seize a stash of the liquor, the two men steal it back and get drunk on the profits. Needing more poitín, the two men decide to steal the old man’s supply, threatening to kill him and rape his daughter. Quinn shows the culture of west rural Ireland just as they were in 1978, you don’t have to like into it, you just have to come to terms with it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Scene Alert: The old poitín maker kills a dog.

Sources:

Solanas Fernando, and Gettino Octavio. “Toward a Third Cinema.” Cineaste. 1970. P 1-10.

White, Jerry. Arguing with Ethnography: The Films of Bob Quinn and Pierre Perrault. Cinema Journal. Vol. 42, No. 2. Winter 2003. P.102

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3YdI7f_bQg

The Quiet Man (1952)

Thu, 02 Feb 2017 04:59:00 GMT

Director John Ford made the Western genre of film popular within Irish cinema. His movie The Quiet Man, shot on location in Ireland meets all the categories that are recognizable in an American western. The film stars John Wayne, known for his roles in westerns and was written by Frank Nugent, who is no stranger to westerns, writing screenplays for films such as Fort Apache. I would have classified this film as a romantic comedy but The Quiet Man has all the makings of a western. For example, the plot of a western is boy meets girl, obstacles are placed in their path which they overcome and they live happily ever after. Such is the case in The Quiet Man, as the main character Sean Thornton (John Wayne) returns to Ireland, back to the village of Inisfree to the cottage he was born in. Instead of a gunslinger, Thornton is a retired boxer from America. He encounters the beautiful red headed Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O’Hara) and they fall in love and the obstacle standing in their way is her brother ‘Red’ Danaher (Victor McLaglen). Red refuses to allow Mary Kate to marry Thornton and refuses to provide her with a dowry. The local priest and some of the locals conspire to trick Red into letting his sister marry and to provide her a large sum of money for her dowry.

The cinematography is similar to that of an American western which features scenes shot outdoors with vast blue skies and wild rainy landscapes. One requirement of Western films is the need to colonialize or civilize the West and in this film we see the need for Thornton to civilize Mary Kate and her village. Thornton cannot understand the importance of their customs and what the dowry means to Mary Kate. She feels the tradition of bringing her belongings into their marriage validates her as a proud married woman.

Interestingly John Ford intended for this film to be more political with an IRA plot but the company, Republic Studios wanted more of a feel good movie. Although there are some political subtleties mentioned in the movie, such as the scene when Father Lonergan meets Thornton and makes a reference to the fact that he knew his grandfather who died in a penal colony in Australia. Ford does paint a very positive portrait of Ireland in this film; a quaint rural village where a Catholic priest and a Protestant minister are friends. He also creates the role of Mary Kate as a very strong willed independent woman, which was hard within the confines of rural Irish Catholic society.

One reason to watch this film, it has one of the all time greatest fistfight. It goes on so long they stop in the pub for a drink! This film may not have the classic American western look to it but it does have the components that make it a western regardless of where it was shot.

I am not a fan of John Wayne and I really didn't like the scene where he drags Mary Kate across the fields. I feel it was a stereotypical macho image that John Wayne seems to always gravitate to in his acting.

⭐️⭐️

The Young Offenders (2016) Ciné Gael Montreal 2017

Tue, 31 Jan 2017 03:02:00 GMT

Produced and directed by Peter Foott, this 2016 Irish comedy is based on a true story of two teenage boys who go off in search of a capsized boat containing 61 bales of cocaine. Each bale is worth seven million euros. Best friends Jock and Conor are two inner city teenagers, both products of single-parent family homes in Cork. They both think they are mature individuals despite the fact that they have the same haircuts, they dress the same and act the same. Their dissimilarities are their own set of problems, an abusive alcoholic father is raising Jock and a hard working single mom is raising Conor. Jock is the troublemaker, stealing bikes and provoking the local policeman, Sargent Healy.

Upon hearing the news of missing bales of cocaine, Jock and Conor steal bikes and head off to the west of Ireland to search the coastline for missing bales. For two inner city boys, finding a bale worth 7 million euros will change their lives. Unfortunately one of the bikes they steal has a GPS tracker and Sargent Healy is in hot pursuit of the two boys.

When they reach the coast, the boys realize that quite a few people have also combed the beaches looking for cocaine bales. Fortunately for them they stumble upon a disabled drug dealer and manage to steal his bale of cocaine, but unfortunately the cocaine is lost. The dealer tracks them down, Sargent Healy gets involved and the boys come clean to Conor’s mum as they are all being held hostage at nail-gun point.

The title of the film suggests that if the boys are caught in possession of a cocaine bale, they can’t do jail time due to the fact that they are young offenders. Best line in the movie, "for some reason they thought our brains weren't developed enough for us to know what we were doing or something, stupid eh?" This law also spurs Jock on to stealing bikes, as he knows he won’t go to jail if caught. This film won Best Irish Feature Film at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2016. A great film, a great laugh. My favourite part is when Jock and Conor plan to jump a wharf into the sea and the chicken scene. Enjoy this film!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpCuiCTpLnc

Odd Man Out (1947)

Wed, 25 Jan 2017 06:22:00 GMT

This classic black and white psychological thriller leads the audience through the dark rainy streets of Belfast,1946. Carol Reed’s film, Odd Man Out, based on a novel by F.L. Green, is deeply rooted in the film noir style. This film rejects the back lot movie settings of Hollywood and moves into the actual city streets, back alleys and tenement buildings. Shooting in the typical black and white of the film noir style, the city landscapes allowed for the use of shadows and darkness. Darkness creates a sense of fear and suspense, which the audience cannot escape from through out this film. The first dark scene in Odd Man Out finds the main protagonist Johnny, shot and bleeding in an old air raid shelter in a back alley of a tenement building. The darkness is used as part of the scene, a young couple enters, unaware they are being watched. Only a shaft of light from an illuminated match lights their faces, the effect emphasizing panic and apprehension.

The use of camera motion allows the audience to not only see but also feel the scene. In order to create a feeling of dizziness or delirium, Reed moves the camera in circles so that the audience can feel disorientated. This is used in two scenes in the movie, as Johnny emerges from the robbery and becomes dizzy from the bright sunlight and again in the artist’s loft where he is delusional from his gunshot wound. Throughout the movie, Reed’s cinematographer Robert Krasker draws us into the story of Johnny’s dilemma by his use of lighting, camera angles and vanishing points, into the black rain filled night, which is typical of film noir movies.

In the beginning of the film, Johnny our anti-hero believes that violence isn’t helping their cause and that guns are not the answer but during a payroll heist he becomes dazed and accidentally kills a guard. Now turned murderer he is a man on the run. Guilt stemming from the knowledge of killing a man leads our anti-hero into flashback and dream sequences that reveal repressive thoughts that are synonymous with film noir. Johnny encounters a few flashbacks, one in the air raid shelter where he mistakes a young girl as a prison guard, another in the pub where he sees the faces of friends in spilt beer bubbles and again in the loft of the estranged artist.

Our female role, Kathleen is not the typical femme fatale and even though she is in love with Johnny, she confides in Father Tom that she will take Johnny’s life to save him from the gallows and she will go with him. True to the film noir guidelines, Johnny is doomed by events beyond his control and the true tragedy of the film is that Johnny and Kathleen never find love.

Film noir was meant to reflect the true state of American society, the corruption and morality of the 1940s. Odd Man Out, an Irish film, mirrors the reality of what was happening in Northern Ireland in the mid 1940s.

Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out which makes it a classic masterpiece of film noir, worthy of it’s British Film Academy award for the Best British Motion Picture of 1947.

If you like Sam Spade style movies, you'll like this one. Starring a young James Mason.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Man of Aron (1934)

Wed, 18 Jan 2017 05:54:00 GMT

This film was written and directed by Robert Flaherty in 1934 and portrays the daily life of a family living on the Aran Islands off the West coast of Ireland near County Galway. This black and white film features a family (husband, wife and son) performing their tedious tasks in order to carve out a life on the barren rocky island. This pseudo documentary represents more like an historical re-enactment within the genre of ethnographic cinema rather than a true representation of life on the island. Where this film falls short was it’s authenticity, with Flaherty taking liberties in truthful descriptions of their way of life. In Man of Aran Flaherty tries to draw us into practice of the ‘noble savage’ and asks us to believe that this ancient way of life has yet to be tainted by western civilization.

In order to show how the men of Aran battle with nature, Flaherty directs a shark hunt which has actually not been practised on the island for generations. According to Hugh Gray, ‘the inhabitants had to be taught shark-hunting in order to supply Mr. Flaherty with a dramatic sequence.’ [1] A similar hunting scene was filmed in his earlier movie, Nanook of the North in 1922 that pushed the boundaries of authenticity as well. Flaherty tells the story of the Inuit’s survival in the harsh conditions of Canada’s Hudson Bay area. In this film he re-enacted a walrus hunt in which the Inuit no longer practised. In both scenes, the hunters are confronted with the elements of nature as a storm appears. Both are long drawn out sequences, giving the audience a sense of real time and urgency.

I felt he portrayed the Irish on the island as pure, untouched and hard working yet he presented them as too primitive and left me with a sense of ‘there’s got to be a better way.’ A good example of this was the scene where the family scavenges crevices in the windswept rocks looking for small handfuls of soil for their garden.

Although there is an attempt to show us how hard life on the island can be, I wished that he had included the village life and some social and cultural behaviours. Flaherty does give the audience a good sense of the baroness and the harshness of the island through spectacular cinematography. There are amazing shots of large waves thundering against the cliffs and dangerous turbulent waters below. Putting all scripting aside, this film lets you imagine and feel what it was like to struggle everyday for survival while instilling in us a respect for Mother Nature. Robert Flaherty catered to our expectations of the human struggle to survive but not to the reality.

⭐️

[1] Hugh Grey. Robert Flaherty and the Naturalistic Documentary. Hollywood Quarterly, Vol.5, No.1 (Autumn, 1950) 42.

The Silent Era cont......

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 05:38:00 GMT

The Colleen Bawn (1911)

The third silent era film by the Kalem Company was based on a 1860s play of the same name, a romantic drama of a secret marriage that leads to murder. The film location was in County Kerry, Ireland and was directed by Sidney Olcott, also starring Gene Gauntier (as the Colleen Bawn). The story is based on the actual murder of a 15 year old girl named Ellen Scanlan in 1819. I would recommend reading the play or a summary of the story before watching this film as it can be quite confusing. I was impressed with the vision of the director, the cinematographer and the actors, all exploring and experimenting with a relatively new medium. The technological determination of primitive cinema needs to be applauded as this was the stepping stones of the present day cinema.

The Kalem Company was very concerned in authenticity and in the credits they mention the bed in the film was actually used by Daniel O'Connell, the Great Emancipator of Ireland. During the viewing of the film they played old political ballads and invited guest lecturers to speak afterwards. Irish soil was brought over from Ireland and placed at the threshold of the theatre so that patrons could actually 'step on' Irish ground as they entered the building to watch the film.

Kalem and Sidney Olcott parted ways after a difference of artistic opinion on a film called "From Manger to Cross." Gene Gauntier left with Olcott and went on to perform in over eighty films and write over forty screenplays.

1927 ushered in the era of the 'talkies' and within a decade silent films were forever silenced.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Three reels long, approximately 41 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwR94ukHDdQ

Silent Era cont...

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 03:54:00 GMT

Rory O'More (1911)

The second film of the silent era by the Kalem Company was also filmed in Ireland and directed by Sidney Olcott. This film was adapted from an Anglo-Irish novel by Samuel Lover and the leading roles were performed by Gene Gauntier (as Kathleen) and Jack Clark (as Rory). The film was based on the Irish rebellions of 1798. The film is political in nature and Olcott seizes the opportunity to voice his nationalist opinion in which the British government takes offence and bans the film.

The storyline: Rory O'More is in hiding because there is a price on his head. His sweetheart Kathleen meets him in secret but they are discovered causing Rory to flee from the English soldiers. He rescues a drowning soldier but Black William demands his arrest. While in prison awaiting trial, Rory's famous subtitle reads " If to fight for Ireland be a crime, then I am guilty." Spoiler alert! Rory is sentenced to hang but at the gallows he is saved by his priest who knocks out the executioner and Rory escapes on a horse. The final scene of the movie is missing but he meets Kathleen and they take a boat to America.

Movie is 2 reels long, approximately 11 minutes. Great cinematography.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

The movie can be found on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ0_Q1OJ518

The Silent Era

Thu, 12 Jan 2017 03:54:00 GMT

The Kalem Company

In 1905 advancements in cameras and lighting techniques allowed shooting of film to move from the outdoor biograph rooftop studios into the indoor studios. By 1909 there were 9000 cinemas in the United States, with Universal being the first movie studio. The period of 1909-1917 was considered "Primitive Cinema" and in 1910, George Kleine, Samuel Long and Frank Marion founded the Kalem Film Company, also known as O'Kalem's in New York City. Shooting their first film in Ireland, The Lad from Old Ireland, made cinematic history as the first American production company to shoot outside of the United States.

The Lad from Old Ireland (1910)

Sidney Olcott who stars in the film (as Terry O'Connor) also directed this production, while his leading lady Gene Gauntier (as Aileene) wrote the screenplay. The company traveled to southwest Ireland which is a very rural and traditional Catholic area of the country. At the time of filming, Ireland was politically involved in fighting for Home Rule, seeking independence from Britain.

The plot of the story: the main character Terry O'Connor dreams of a better life and emigrates to America to escape the destitution of Ireland. Arriving in New York City Terry finds work in construction and eventually becomes a successful politician. Meanwhile back in Ireland his sweetheart Aileen and her family are being evicted from their land. Terry returns to Ireland and marries Aileen, freeing her from poverty. Although this film was shot in Ireland it was intended for an American audience, for the Irish diaspora to feel for home. The movie was a huge success in America.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

12 minutes long. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPs8vbcVXMc&t=13s&index=1&list=PLFZzNFMpmBnP40pk4iC5Z3Mi56_4q_vsJ

Journey into the World of Irish Film

Thu, 05 Jan 2017 03:00:00 GMT

This semester I will be taking an Irish Film Studies course. As part of my course assessment, I need to respond each week to a film or films that were viewed in class. If you have an interest in Irish film, please follow my journey.

We will be starting with the silent film era from 1910 when a film company the O'Kalems crossed the Atlantic to film in Ireland. These silent films were mostly based on books, stories or plays then written into a film. These films were aimed at the American audience, for those who dreamed of a romanticized Ireland and for those of the Irish diaspora who were nostalgic for home.

There will be films by homegrown Irish filmmakers and Hollywood films that place Ireland on the global stage.

I am not sure if all films can be accessed through the internet or Netflix.

Hoping I can get through the last film, week 13! An Irish horror film!!

Irish Famine Walk - The Ghosts

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 05:20:00 GMT

The CN Train Swing Bridge connecting Wellington street. This bridge was used until 1959, at that point in time the Lachine canal was not used anymore as the seaway way opened. This bridge was used by cars, pedestrians and the old street cars of the day. The bridge would swing open 90 degrees to let the boats go by and then swing back into place. The bridge has a particularly gruesome history and now is said to be haunted. In September 1908 a 13 year old boy jumped onto the bridge as it began to swing open, then as the bridge was swinging closed, he attempted to jump off on the Griffintown side before the bridge had fully swung into place. Instead of landing on the street, he fell between the abutment and the bridge and was crushed to death. A ghostly figure of a boy, who seems to be in a rush, has been seen near and on the bridge.

Irish Famine Walk - Darling Brothers Foundry

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 05:15:00 GMT

Irish Famine Walk. It's funny how things come full circle. My Great Great Grandfather John (on my father's side) came over here from Ireland in 1848. He lived in Griffentown at one point and Point St. Charles (both situated southwest of Old Montreal, around the Lachine Canal). Griffintown was where the fever sheds were built to house the thousands of Irish immigrants coming from the famine in Ireland. In the census of 1852 he was classified as a labourer. I don't know at this time where he worked or exactly what he did. This photo is not my own, but it is a picture of the Darling Brothers Foundry that was built in the mid 1800's in Griffintown and employed 800 workers. Today it's an art gallery and production studios for up and coming artists. The full circle part is........ wouldn't it be ironic if John worked there years ago, because I now live in Edward Darling's summer residence in Pointe Claire on the golf course (Beaconsfield) that he helped founded in 1904.

Irish Famine Walk Lachine Canal

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 05:09:00 GMT

The Lachine Canal. The canal runs 14.5 kms long, running from the old port of Montreal to Lac St. Louis on the western end of the island of Montreal. The canal was needed for ships to by pass the dangerous Lachine rapids. Irish Montrealers were the single biggest group of workers involved in the construction of the Lachine Canal, which opened in 1825, and later in its expansion, between 1843 and 1848, and then again in 1875. Wages were low, work was never steady and the work was extremely dangerous. There are bodies that have been buried along the bank as the canal was being dug. The canal brought industry along it's banks, as you can see in the background, the numerous old grain elevators.

Irish Famine Walk

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 05:00:00 GMT

Just south of Place d'Youville stands the Grey Nuns' Hospital (also known as Hôpital général des frères Charron). The hospital was built outside the Fortifications of Montreal in 1695. Management and hospital administration were entrusted to the Grey Nuns in 1747.

Irish Famine Walk

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 04:55:00 GMT

Photo #2. Place d'Youville. This small square in Old Montreal was named for Marie-Marguerite d'Youville. Known as Marguerite, she married François d'Youville, a bootlegger who sold liquor illegally. By the young age of 30 she became a widow, while also losing 4 of her 6 children who died in infancy. In 1737 along with a few women, they formed a religious order which treated the poor. Mocked by people, they referred to them as 'les grises' a slang term for drunken women which was given because of her late husband's reputation and thereafter became known as the 'Grey Nuns.' They were given a charter to run the Montreal General Hospital, which was in ruins.

My Irish Famine Walk through Old Montreal

Thu, 01 Sep 2016 04:05:00 GMT

JOE BEEF"S TAVERN

Photo #1 of the Irish Famine Walk I took yesterday, commemorating the plight of the Irish refugees to Canada in the summer of 1847. I'll start with the original location of Joe Beef's tavern. Charles McKiernan, born in Ireland, was given the nickname Joe Beef. He ran his famous waterfront tavern in this building from 1870 till his death in 1889. The tavern was well known to sailors and tramps, a source of food and shelter for the down-and-out. Joe Beef was famous for helping striking workers by providing bread and soup. He supported Lachine Canal workers during the strikes of 1877. Joe Beef was also famous for keeping a menagerie of wild animals in the basement. Made up of four black bears, ten monkeys, three wild cats, a porcupine and an alligator. Apparently he sometimes brought a bear up from the basement to restore order when patrons got too unruly.

Cake!

Tue, 21 Jul 2015 17:23:30 GMT

"You can't have your cake and eat it too." How many times have you said this expression or heard it said? I never really understood the actual wording, but I have always known the meaning behind this old English proverb. It means you can't have one thing two ways if those things conflict. According to the Urban dictionary, the proper use of the proverb is easier to understand: "You can't eat your cake and have it too." Once your cake is eaten, you no longer have it. The saying is about making compromises, understanding that you can't have one thing while having something else. The choice is yours to make.

"Let them eat cake." This phrase was supposedly spoken by the French Queen, Marie Anoinette in the 1700s. It was a phrase that was coined to her because of her lavish lifestyle while her subjects were starving and her lack of interest in helping them.

"That takes the cake." You are a winner, you are extraordinary or you are exceptionally good at something. I have no idea where this saying came from.

"Cakewalk." To me this meant something that was easy to do. I did a little research and found that it actually was a ragtime dance performed in the Southern United States in the 1800s. Who knew?

When I think of cake, I think of birthdays, celebrations, family and friends, and calories! Today cake making is an art form. From wedding cakes to extraordinary cupcakes, pastry artists are whipping up amazing cakes. There are tv shows dedicated just to cake decorating (not even baking).

For this little girl, she got to taste cake for the very first time on her first birthday. She loved it.

Taking photos of this celebration..........a piece of cake when she's this cute!

Happy 1st Birthday.

Rain, Rain go Away.......

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 18:48:46 GMT

After a very long and cold winter this year, here in Montreal the month of February broke a 119 year old record for being the coldest month. The average temperature was -15 C (5 F) and we had 12 days of -20 C (-4 F), and that doesn't include the wind chill!

In the last month people have been wandering outdoors, trying to soak up some sun, get some gardening done and finally slip into some sandals, t-shirts and shorts. We all promised not to complain about the hot summer days and the humid sticky nights. Now, as good as the rain is for my vegetables, grass and trees....enough is enough. It's June! The April showers brought the May flowers, so please Mother Nature, just a few days of sun? We all feel a need to recharge our batteries at this time. I feel like I am a solar powered human and I need some of that brilliant sunshine to get me going again!

The saying is in Canada is, "If you don't like the weather out your front door, open the back door."

At this point, all my door are open!

Helping Hands

Wed, 10 Jun 2015 14:58:06 GMT

Photography is not my only passion. I have been quilting for over 30 years and I have taught the traditional hand piece, appliqué and hand quilting for over 20 years. In 2001, I started a group called "Mothers for Others" and the aim was to teach a group of moms how to quilt. The deal was, if I taught them to quilt, they would make one extra quilt for me to give to the children's hospital in our city. 14 years later, we have donated an average of 100 quilts each year to the Montreal Children's Paediatric and Neonatal ICUs!!!!

Quilting and photography have many similarities, they both use colour, highlights and shadow effects. There can be symmetry, lead lines, rule of thirds and focal points. They can tell a story, be pleasing to the eye, calming or bold and exciting. Both are an art form, they just use different mediums.

All is not Lost.

Tue, 09 Jun 2015 20:59:59 GMT

Photographing a rugby team this past weekend, they asked for a team photo after their game. Unfortunately one of the players posed in the photo with no shirt. Instead of rescheduling the team photo or losing the moment, all was not lost. Just a few corrections in photoshop and the player is now wearing a jersey. Added a shirt