Best Irish film ever?

Fishooks12

The snapper thread got me thinking

What's the finest example of film-making we've ever produced?

Not your own personal favourite mind, but the best all round film.

MrJoeSoap

Michael Collins or The Wind That Shakes The Barley perhaps? The Quiet Man also deserves a mention as it was filmed here, don't think it was produced here though...

bassy

the field,get outta my field yank go home.

madma

Intermission

jc84

The snapper, hands down one of my all time favourites

duckworth

1) The Butcher Boy
2) Adam and Paul
3) Hunger
4) The Commitments
5) The Field

Butcher Boy is one of the most weird and wonderful films I've ever seen - I love it. Adam and Paul is beautiful too. Hunger blew me away when I saw it.

I'm not really a fan of Jim Sheridan film's, but The Field is very good, and very Irish in every way possible.

The Commitments is the best of the Roddy Doyle films IMO - and the General just misses out of my top 5.

bassy

the general

Dublindude69

I'm a fan of War Of The Buttons.

busyliving

Post 9 and this is the first mention of "The Van"...great movie

In relation to "War of the Buttons" remember loving it as a kid when I saw it, but seen it again recently and it was very dated a lot more than usual, still a good one to watch...

1-Michael Collins
2-Angela's Ashes
3-The Guard
4-The Van
5-The Field

Don't know if "In Brugge" falls into Irish film or not... I'd think not but a lot of people do consider it to be an Irish film

murraykil

I Went Down is one of the best, best Irish road movie anyway!

seanybiker

Crushproof.

MrJoeSoap

Fishooks12 wrote: »

The snapper thread got me thinking

What's the finest example of film-making we've ever produced?

Not your own personal favourite mind, but the best all round film.

jc84 wrote: »

The snapper, hands down one of my all time favourites

:rolleyes:

30txsbzmcu2k9w

I Went Down is almost perfect aside from a tiny bit of unfortunate sound editing near the end (maybe it was just on the copy I was watching, was a long time ago) . Soundtrack is fantastic. The whole film is on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfMrNkap1Dg

Tipsy McSwagger

The Butcher Boy

efb

The Snapper

texidub

I Went Down? Seriously? Very derivative and unimaginative, IMO.

1. Adam and Paul
2. Michael Collins
3. Butcher Boy (also one of the best Irish novels ever written)

branie

Michael Collins

spurious

'Garage'.

Sad Professor

Can everyone explain their choices please? List threads are against charter.

bodhrandude

Thought The Treaty was better than Michael Collins because it didnt have the god forsaken Julia Roberts in it, thought Gleeson was a better choice as Collins too. For historical TV drama Strumpet City is quite hard to beat.

spurious

I liked 'Garage' a lot - mainly because it was so 'Irish' in its portrayal of how we deal (or don't deal) with loneliness, isolation, mental illness and mental disability, with divil a mention of green fields or creative muses, or politics or cutesy Irish folk.
I though Pat Shortt was a revelation in it too.

emzolita

the Van and War of the Buttons

Mickeroo

In terms of all round quality on a technical level I would have to say The Butcher Boy, I can't think of much else that comes close really. In Bruges is great too but I'm not sure that counts as an Irish film or not?There's always a thing with a lot of Irish films in that they don't look like films, they just generally look like TV shows, which was one criticism I would level at The Guard and Intermission.

I Went Down is brilliant, really needs to get a re-release. I also want to throw Disco Pigs into the ring, I was blown away by it when I first saw it, have re-assessed my opinion of it since I got older but I still think its a very good film, amazing performance from Cillian Murphy.

Mike Litoris

My Left Foot...if it counts
The Snapper
Intermission
The Commitments

charlie_says

My choice is Hunger.

A powerful film. In particular the dialog in with the priest and Bobby Sands makes for an incredible scene.



Apparently it was turned down by the Irish Film Board! I was completely hooked from the beginning to the the end.

Must check out The Butcher Boy.

That_Guy

Fatal Deviation.

Ireland's greatest kickboxing film!! And I haven't even mentioned that it stars Boyzone's Mikey Graham. :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUHSCNMH4wE

Mindkiller

Why is 'In Bruges' not considered an Irish film? Because it's not set in Ireland?

duckworth

charlie_says wrote: »

My choice is Hunger.

A powerful film. In particular the dialog in with the priest and Bobby Sands makes for an incredible scene.



Apparently it was turned down by the Irish Film Board! I was completely hooked from the beginning to the the end.

Must check out The Butcher Boy.

What excited me about Hunger - it was the first really cinematic Irish film. Most of the other ones are just filmed theatre - good story, acting etc.. but they have no real cinematic flair (apart from some bits of Neil Jordan).

Even just looking at the screen-shot above, you can see the beautiful style in Hunger.

Oh, and I forgot about the Crying Game in my list, which is probably in the top 5.

barone

darby o gill and the little people, timeless classic

mayordenis

thought "A film with me in it" was pretty superb, along with In Bruges, The Guard and Perrier's Bounty, of the more modern ones anyway.

rednik

A lot of great films mentioned already. I would add Spin the bottle. A very witty script with a great cast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOLpvXICpPo

R P McMurphy

I suppose it depends on how you define an Irish film: Irish themed/Irish funded/Irish set/Irish actors, writers, director etc. If Irish themed then definitely Hunger, very powerful direction by Steve McQueen and excellent acting. Was initially supposed to be a film devoid of any dialogue and you can see how that would work. Had been a while since I witnessed people storming out of the cinema in a strop and happened at this.

The other one worth a mention has to be 'In America'. Loved the look and feel of the film. The theme of the story resonated with me and the acting by Paddy Considine was terrific

losthorizon

The Crying Game

Its Brutal, Humane, A love story, A thriller, Brilliant acting and directing and its got a surprise or two!

Bobby Baccala

could you call in bruges irish?

dark crystal

John Houston's swansong film, The Dead, is well worth checking out.

Based on James Joyce's short story, it contains just the most sublime acting from actors such as Donal McCann, Anjelica Houston, Marie Keane and Donal Donnelly (in wonderfully humerous performance).

Definitely one of my favourite Irish films, along with The Barrytown trilogy, The Butcher Boy and Angela's Ashes. I also thought Evelyn, Song For a Raggy Boy and The Magdalene Sisters were very good.

don ramo

P4DDY2K11 wrote: »

could you call in bruges irish?

the two leads were irish and that was about it, they were living in england and were sent to bruges, but i think we should claim it:D

i always thought The Magdeline Sisters, Song For A Raggy Boy and Evelyn were superb films, the first 2 probably dont have a great rewatchability factor, but ive watched evelyn a god few times,

i think it great that between the 3 of them they cover the different aspects, from the grils side, the boys side and from a family persepctive,

also remember being in stiched watching Man About Dog,

Da Shins Kelly

I'd definitely go for My Left Foot and In The Name of the Father as my top two. Just great, great Irish stories that are actually reflective of our culture and history.

I prefer the novel of the Butcher Boy, didn't like the film as much.

Hunger is also just a brilliant piece of film, with great acting and some riveting scenes. Also a great look at our very tumultuous history.

We've had some incredible moments in our history, and have a very interesting culture, and when we try, we are great at exploring this artistically and creating some very interesting work out of it.

Mindkiller

don ramo wrote: »

the two leads were irish and that was about it, they were living in england and were sent to bruges, but i think we should claim it:D

It was written and directed by an Irish guy. I don't see how it could be anything other than an Irish movie

Sam V Smith

Adam and Paul...

and of course this little gem youtube.com/watch?v=ke1sp2wzpWk

FreeOSCAR

Assault of Darkness, really captivating stuff from start to finish.
Vinnie Jones excels in his role "The Hunter" :pac:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_of_Darkness

AnonoBoy

rednik wrote: »

A lot of great films mentioned already. I would add Spin the bottle. A very witty script with a great cast.

God I hated that film. They took a brilliant TV show and ruined it. Lost teh subtlety of the series and it felt really flat when taken out of the 'documentary' world. Also think it needed the doctor character from the series to provide balance. Rats alone wasn't enough to sustain the film.

Morlar

Not sure exactly what the criteria are for determining the nationality of a movie, (or how pedantic it's going to be). Anyway, my list mine would be ;

Hunger - rivetting. Beautiful & horrific. Sensitive handling of a complex period of recent Irish history. Some incredible sequences, great cinematography, audio-score acting and script.
Wind that shakes the Barley - great historical drama.
Michael Collins - closest thing to an Irish epic, great entertaining historical based drama.

Intermission - hilarious, Colin Farrell had some incredible one liners in this film.
In Bruges - as above, great comedy gangster flick.
The Guard - best Irish fillum of recent years.
Honourable mentions - Crying Game, Ressurection Man, Angel, Company of Wolves (Irish director/writer), Everlasting Piece.

Goldcupfav

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

Most of the film shot in Ireland. Can this be classed as an Irish Film ?

Mike Litoris

FreeOSCAR wrote: »

Assault of Darkness, really captivating stuff from start to finish.
Vinnie Jones excels in his role "The Hunter" :pac:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_of_Darkness

Man that looks awesome!:D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNSJYGNoMQQ

saralou2011

loved Man about dog, very funny flim'
the butcher boy was very good but very fu*cked up!

Tipsy McSwagger

The boom guy on Smokey and the Bandit was Irish so that's my pick for best Irish film of all time.

Warper

Garage was very well made

The Field is also a classic as is The Butcher Boy

Mindkiller

Mindkiller wrote: »

It was written and directed by an Irish guy. I don't see how it could be anything other than an Irish movie

By that reasoning Max Payne is an Irish film, as is Get Rich or Die Trying.

Also the director of In Bruges is English given that he was born and raised in England.

BailMeOut

The Commitments. By far my favourite Irish Film.

im invisible

Any mention of 'on the edge' yet? I havnt seen most of the films listed so i dont know how it would compare

downsouth

Deleted User wrote: »

By that reasoning Max Payne is an Irish film, as is Get Rich or Die Trying.

Also the director of In Bruges is English given that he was born and raised in England.

Controversial - he's always been adamant about how Irish he is?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE2DB133AF934A35750C0A9669D8B63&ref=martinmcdonagh&pagewanted=2