One Hundred Mornings

Ernest

Has anyone else seen this Irish made film currently showing in a three Dublin cinemas? Any opinions? I found it dull, poorly cast and lacking in any character interest. It was seemingly filmed in Co Wicklow. Its infuriatingly slow final titles shown over loud dreary tuneless music was the last straw - I only wanted to find out who were the actors and where it was filmed but had to sit through hundred of seconds of lists of technical crew and "thanks" list to find out. Why should I have cared!
Why are so many Irish films lacking in any warmth or colour or empathy?

DonnieScribbles

Yeah, I saw it when it screened in Cork.

Ernest wrote: »

I found it dull, poorly cast and lacking in any character interest.

I'd agree on the whole, but there were some interesting aspects, the relationship between them and the neighbour

growing increasingly less friendly in tandem with their desperation. The same with how their interaction with the Gardaí grows more sinister.

I thought it was a really good premise that doesn't quite come off. The idea of a post-apocalyptic Ireland is an intriguing one, as it'd be interesting to tackle the idea of disintegration of power structures in a country the size of this. The film alludes to it but doesn't quite follow through. And yeah, the acting was very restrained, which may have been intentional, but it just seems cold.

Ernest wrote: »

Why are so many Irish films lacking in any warmth or colour or empathy?

Have to reply to that point, as I don't believe that's the case really! On one level, film is always going to be a product of it's environment, and to be overly literal, this is not a very warm country! As well, if I try and imagine Ireland as a colour palette I immediately think of greys, dark greens, and browns. This can be used to a filmmakers advantage though, if done right. Wide Open Spaces is a good example of how not to shoot the Irish landscape; the dreariness of that film makes it ultimately unpleasant to watch. On the other hand, Breakfast on Pluto places a colourful character in a less colourful landscape, giving it a fantastical quality which I really liked about it.

As for empathy, have you seen Garage? There's an unsettling empathy to that film.

But yeah, I am disappointed when I see films like One Hundred Mornings because there's such potential in them to be really interesting. I like to think of them as indications of where Irish cinema could eventually go though.

Ernest

On the other end of the temperature/colour spectrum is the Irish documentary His & Hers. This I watched on dvd, despite hating the cover and finding the idea not in the least appealing. However the sheer style and warmth of the unfolding characters drew me in and won me over. Of particular interest was the way each scene was carefully choreographed and the composition of the warm pastel colours deliberately designed into each scene. The characters seemed to be unscripted and talked naturally but what emerged was so skillfully edited that the whole thing might have been written in advance by the writer/director but probably was not. A wonderful piece of cinema.