Cardboard Gangsters.

MilesMorales1

Any of you lot seen this homegrown Irish film? What did you think?

I'm not sure if I liked it really. The plot was pretty easy to guess and some of the acting was bad, although some of it was pretty damn great. I certainly wasn't bored, and some of the shots were very well done. Very grim though, wouldn't call it enjoyable.


Also Conor McGregor has the shortest cameo I can think of.

Looper007

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Any of you lot seen this homegrown Irish film? What did you think?

I'm not sure if I liked it really. The plot was pretty easy to guess and some of the acting was bad, although some of it was pretty damn great. I certainly wasn't bored, and some of the shots were very well done. Very grim though, wouldn't call it enjoyable.


Also Conor McGregor has the shortest cameo I can think of.

Grew up in Belcamp, still live there so just across the road from Darndale, didn't even know they filmed this. Pretty much 95% of it was Darndale, actually think I saw my cul de sac from one scene and my old secondary school in the opening scene.

Anyway onto the film, I do agree some of the acting was a little iffy, definitely not from the lead John Connors, he looked the part and was by the far the best thing in it. Definitely some of the acting from his mates varied, although Jimmy Smallbone as Derra Murphy was very good. It definitely deserved it's 18 rating for sure

When Jason gets his leg cut open at the end was pretty tough

and it's use of bad language.


It definitely doesn't glorify been a drug dealer or the drug life, and when it gets to the third act things get really bleak and the film doesn't hold back it's punches. You could see where it was going in the end

when he went back to save Drug dealers wife, empty car park and sent his girlfriend and mum off to Spain, you knew damn well he was dying

. I thought it was a well made film, with a fantastic lead performance but definitely not a easy watch.

darkdubh

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Any of you lot seen this homegrown Irish film? What did you think?

I'm not sure if I liked it really. The plot was pretty easy to guess and some of the acting was bad, although some of it was pretty damn great. I certainly wasn't bored, and some of the shots were very well done. Very grim though, wouldn't call it enjoyable.


Also Conor McGregor has the shortest cameo I can think of.

The shorter the better.

pumpkin4life

darkdubh wrote: »

[/B]

The shorter the better.

pumpkin4life

Saw this. Marred by a low budget and some dodgy casting, thankfully only with some of the smaller roles (and yeah it is predictable enough to be fair), but Conners is brilliant in it and the movies got so much energy and grit you won't be bored with it. If you've seen the Pusher trilogy of films, think that.

Damn good film though and easily one of the best Irish films in the past while.

MilesMorales1

darkdubh wrote: »

[/B]

The shorter the better.

So short as to be practically irrelevant though, about 5 seconds I think.

Joekers

Any idea of when this was actually filmed ? I noticed Stephen Clinch was in it and last time I seen anything of him he was going down for armed robbery.

MilesMorales1

http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4288884&tpl=archnews&force=1

Finished shooting 18 months ago!

Looper007

pumpkin4life wrote: »

Saw this. Marred by a low budget and some dodgy casting, thankfully only with some of the smaller roles (and yeah it is predictable enough to be fair), but Conners is brilliant in it and the movies got so much energy and grit you won't be bored with it. If you've seen the Pusher trilogy of films, think that.

Damn good film though and easily one of the best Irish films in the past while.

I thought Conner's mum, his crazy mate and the mate who

got his neck sliced

were dodgy. Especially the crazy mate, who went 100% OTT, he thought he was in a Guy Ritchie geezer film. But I thought Connors, the old drug dealer and his wife (Kierston Wareing from The Take and Fish Tank) even the scumbag son and Conners rapper mate were all good.

Good call on the Pusher Trilogy, it does have the bleak feel of the first film. That's why I loved this film, it didn't try and make Conner's character into a hero and try and romanticise the drug life, loved that . Great to see they shot pretty much everything in Darndale, and was used to great effect.

To be fair I think over the last three years or so Ireland has churned out some cracking films. The Young Offender, Date For Mad Mary, Sing Street, Brooklyn, Handsome Devil, Patricks Day and I add this film to that list.

TerrorFirmer

Good film, I really enjoyed it. One or two of the performances were less than convincing - namely the black friend - but it was counter-balanced by some terrific performances as well, Connors himself in particular gives an excellent effort with plenty of range.

Some funny moments in it as well, inevitable it would be compared to something like Love/Hate but the tone is pretty much identical to that show and it works pretty well. Stephen Clinch in particular is both terrifying and hilarious.

You could barely plug in a television!

I didn't like the ending, it was the only area where the script seriously let it down - not the general ending, which is fine, but the way in which it arrived to that point was cheap to me and did not sit well with the rest of the film....

Jay drags his ex out of the pub on a desperate last minute plea to flee the country with him and just about convinces her - then skips off at the airport with little protest! And subsequently goes to pick up the wife despite knowing he's killed her son and that it's entirely possible, even likely, she knows!

Good film overall though, well worth a watch. Connors really is fantastic and I'd be very eager to see what else he comes up with.

JohnFalstaff

I went to see this in Cineworld at the weekend. It's an enjoyable, confidently made crime drama that brings the estates and small-time hoodlums of Darndale to vivid life onscreen. O'Connor has matured as a film-maker and he gets great performances out of both John Connors and Fionn Walton. The script is solid and O'Connor has pulled off some great shots in the film that give it a real energy and verve.

What struck me about the Cineworld screening was the amount of people there, more than you'd normally see at an Irish film. And it looks like Cardboard Gangsters is on track to be the highest grossing Irish film of the year at the national box office: https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2017/0626/885672-cardboard-gangsters-set-to-be-biggest-irish-film-of-17/

The film has also been a critical success with good reviews across the board. You have to hand it to O'Connor. He has stuck at his craft, learned from his missteps, and matured into a director of real talent. Many Irish film fans, including a number of outspoken critics on this forum, were quick to write him off after his first couple of features. I hope they check out Cardboard Gangsters - they might not be so quick to criticise the next Irish director whose early efforts fail to live up to their high expectations. I stand by my earlier comments:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=89899232&postcount=55

JohnFalstaff

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

they might not be so quick to criticise the next Irish director whose early efforts fail to live up to their high expectations. I stand by my earlier comments:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=89899232&postcount=55

So what you are saying is that if a director is Irish and makes three terrible films people should not criticise those films, in case the director's fourth film is kind of decent? Not seen Cardboard Gangsters as the trailer was woeful and made it look like every low budget British gang film of the past two decades but based on O'Connors previous form expectation is low, so low in fact that if Cardboard Gangsters manages to look professional it will already be an improvement.

Also, do we apply your logic to every director, do we hold back from being critical of an American or British of Japanese filmmakers first three films in case their fourth film is good?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

JohnFalstaff wrote: »

What struck me about the Cineworld screening was the amount of people there, more than you'd normally see at an Irish film. And it looks like Cardboard Gangsters is on track to be the highest grossing Irish film of the year at the national box office: https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2017/0626/885672-cardboard-gangsters-set-to-be-biggest-irish-film-of-17/
expectations.

It bothers me that this is the case. There's been some really great Irish films out over the last year or so and they get decent numbers but then something like this comes along and people flock to it. I just don't get why this subject matter is so appealing to people. Although I felt the same about Love/Hate. And that's not a comment on the quality of the work, by the way, I just don't get the appeal of it.

That said, it's getting decent reviews in the press so I too would be interested to know what the people on Boards who were very critical of this guy's previous work thought of it. I remember some being particularly unimpressed with him before.

Banjaxed82

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

It bothers me that this is the case. There's been some really great Irish films out over the last year or so and they get decent numbers but then something like this comes along and people flock to it. I just don't get why this subject matter is so appealing to people. Although I felt the same about Love/Hate. And that's not a comment on the quality of the work, by the way, I just don't get the appeal of it.

That said, it's getting decent reviews in the press so I too would be interested to know what the people on Boards who were very critical of this guy's previous work thought of it. I remember some being particularly unimpressed with him before.

I wasn't that gone on his previous work. He most definitely wore his influences far too much on his sleeve.

I liked this though. His influences are still a bit too in your face, but I found this was a much more refined effort. Simple story. Well told. Better sense of structure about the piece. Acting was wildly inconsistent, a montage too many, and I just didn't buy the motivation of the main character that lead to the climax, but I'm far more inclined to see what O'Connor does next on the back of this film.

Slydice

Think I saw the trailer for this but didn't really pay much attention but then googling the irish box office I saw it mentioned as doing well so far

headlines like:
Word of mouth sees Cardboard Gangsters gross increase 80 per cent in one week at Irish box office
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/movie-news/word-of-mouth-sees-cardboard-gangsters-gross-increase-80-per-cent-in-one-week-at-irish-box-office-35873543.html

it has 100% (79% from audience) on RT:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cardboard_gangsters/

trailer:

JohnFalstaff

Deleted User wrote: »

So what you are saying is that if a director is Irish and makes three terrible films people should not criticise those films, in case the director's fourth film is kind of decent? Not seen Cardboard Gangsters as the trailer was woeful and made it look like every low budget British gang film of the past two decades but based on O'Connors previous form expectation is low, so low in fact that if Cardboard Gangsters manages to look professional it will already be an improvement.

Also, do we apply your logic to every director, do we hold back from being critical of an American or British of Japanese filmmakers first three films in case their fourth film is good?

What I'm saying is that there was enough in O'Connor's earlier films, all made outside the traditional system, to mark him out as a film maker to be encouraged. His films weren't by any means perfect but I'd take Between The Canals or Stalker over some of the safer mainstream Irish efforts from that period.

You talk about expectations being low but why not go into this film with an open mind and hope that it is better than his previous efforts?

I have always felt that the only way the Irish Film industry will succeed is if we cultivate a viable movie-going public who want to go and see Irish films in the cinema. Most Irish filmmakers only make Irish films as a calling card to bigger budget productions in the UK and the US, but O'Connor seems to actually want to make films about the Ireland he knows - and his latest picture has found an audience.

I hope Cardboard Gangsters tops the domestic box office this weekend. Another low-budget Irish film - Tom Ryan's Twice Shy is also screening. They are both great examples to anyone, including those on this forum, who want to make a film. There's nothing stopping you from going out and doing it.

endacl

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

So short as to be practically irrelevant though, about 5 seconds I think.

McGregor, or his cameo?

Ralf and Florian

Looper007 wrote: »

I thought Conner's mum, his crazy mate and the mate who

got his neck sliced

were dodgy. Especially the crazy mate, who went 100% OTT, he thought he was in a Guy Ritchie geezer film. But I thought Connors, the old drug dealer and his wife (Kierston Wareing from The Take and Fish Tank) even the scumbag son and Conners rapper mate were all good.

Good call on the Pusher Trilogy, it does have the bleak feel of the first film. That's why I loved this film, it didn't try and make Conner's character into a hero and try and romanticise the drug life, loved that . Great to see they shot pretty much everything in Darndale, and was used to great effect.

To be fair I think over the last three years or so Ireland has churned out some cracking films. The Young Offender, Date For Mad Mary, Sing Street, Brooklyn, Handsome Devil, Patricks Day and I add this film to that list.

Award for most prolific use of the word mate in a single post goes to you Sir.

Dr Brown

Just watched it didn't think much of it I've seen better episodes of fair city.

Also it looked like it had zero budget.

Without the love/hate connection we probably would never have even heard of this flim.

Atlantic Dawn

For anyone interested this is on next Monday on TV3 at 9pm.

JP Liz V1

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

For anyone interested this is on next Monday on TV3 at 9pm.

That is fast

Looper007

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

That is fast

Not really for a Irish film, especially one TV3 threw a bit of money into. Plus people who don't get to the cinema will tune into it, helping knock up the DVD sells for Christmas. It's a perfect time to put it on really. I see this getting a bit of a cult fanbase.

La_Gordy

Really disappointing. So many hammy actors and the plot line was generic wannabe gangsters getting in over their head with an inevitable ending. Twas bad enough that I am surprised to read it got so much acclaim. Also, that wasn't Conor McGregor, but a flashy lookalike

MilesMorales1

La_Gordy wrote: »

Really disappointing. So many hammy actors and the plot line was generic wannabe gangsters getting in over their head with an inevitable ending. Twas bad enough that I am surprised to read it got so much acclaim. Also, that wasn't Conor McGregor, but a flashy lookalike

Really? So he didn't want to be in the film, but wanted to be seen to be in it?

imme

depressing
very depressing

young guys looking to get into being gangsters as a way to get ahead

otherwise they will sell tablets, perfectly fine, sure why wouldn't you sell tablets

gangster glamour isn't it great

Looper007

La_Gordy wrote: »

Really disappointing. So many hammy actors and the plot line was generic wannabe gangsters getting in over their head with an inevitable ending. Twas bad enough that I am surprised to read it got so much acclaim. Also, that wasn't Conor McGregor, but a flashy lookalike

I agree, I loved the film more then you did , that some of the acting was indeed hammy. Mostly from John Conor's characters mates, some woeful stuff. But Conor's I thought was excellent and by far and away the best thing about this film. The ending you could call a mile away, but overall it was a enjoyable watch and I didn't think it made the gangster life look great but sad and depressing. Some better actors in the supporting roles and a bit more work on the script especially the ending, could have made this into a far better film.

La_Gordy

Looper007 wrote: »

I agree, I loved the film more then you did , that some of the acting was indeed hammy. Mostly from John Conor's characters mates, some woeful stuff. But Conor's I thought was excellent and by far and away the best thing about this film. The ending you could call a mile away, but overall it was a enjoyable watch and I didn't think it made the gangster life look great but sad and depressing. Some better actors in the supporting roles and a bit more work on the script especially the ending, could have made this into a far better film.

Totally agree about John Connors! Also nice to not see him playing a traveller. His pals really were pish but. Especially the mouthy one. We all know the head the ball scumbags but his portrayal was a parody.

Looper007

La_Gordy wrote: »

Totally agree about John Connors! Also nice to not see him playing a traveller. His pals really were pish but. Especially the mouthy one. We all know the head the ball scumbags but his portrayal was a parody.

His mates definitely let the film down, the acting from the rival gang was a little better especially the leader but still not anywhere up to the level it needed to be. But the mouthy friend was a stand out for the worse acting I've seen in 2017, and the

Death scene of another friend who got his throat cut

was spoiled by that guys acting. That was the problem it was parody, I grew up with guys like that and they didn't behave in that way. It's the Love/Hate thing that sadly will blight the way working class Dubliners are seen. It's a problem with a good percentage of Irish films, that you have a strong central performance but the supporting cast isn't up that level. The Only two films that come to mind that got it right was A Date For Mad Mary and Sing Street.

John Connors has a great future ahead of himself, like to see him do something that isn't the tough guy next time, see if he has any range. But without him in this film, Cardboard Gangsters wouldn't have got the acclaim or big release it did.

Piriz

Joekers wrote: »

Any idea of when this was actually filmed ? I noticed Stephen Clinch was in it and last time I seen anything of him he was going down for armed robbery.

I watched it last night. Stephen Clinch didn't even know he was in a film..

weldoninhio

Dr Brown wrote: »

Just watched it didn't think much of it I've seen better episodes of fair city.

Also it looked like it had zero budget.

Without the love/hate connection we probably would never have even heard of this flim.

Same, watched it a week or two ago and thought it looked like a transition year project by students who'd been reading too much Paul Williams.

brianregan09

As much of it is shouty shouty violence I still think John Connors shone brightly in it , I found all the roaring and overacting of the others very hard to watch , I found it very distracting and took away from the film. Still a great effort for such a low budget though lets be fair , Would love to see more of John in a different kind of role than the Love Hate crime thing as I think he'd have a great range in something else

byrnem31

Watching this now.

It's unintentionally the funniest film I've ever seen. A pile of ****e that is about as realistic as a star wars movie.

The bit were it shows someone injecting heroin and they just jab it in their arm without even finding a vein was comical. Simple little details like that trying to show authentic drug use isn't even done right.

There is no gang in dublin that go on like that.

gargargar

Saw this on Netflix. The story has been done better so many times, and this adds nothing new. The acting was patchy at best. As people have said the mouthy mate was terrible, but to be fair to the actor, the part was just a caricature. The "crew" as such were 2 dimensional with no time given to their motivations.

Also, the ending was terrible. It just didn't make an sense.

John Connors was great though.

johnny_ultimate

The film does represent a few cautious step forwards in O'Connor's ability as a filmmaker. There are a few ideas - the repeated motifs of the river / plane (as familiar as the latter is), for example, and some of the scene-setting - that show a director getting a little bit more confident in telling his stories visually. I'd put it a notch above King of The Travellers and Between the Canals in that respect if nothing else.

Sadly, those steps forward are harshly countered by O'Connor's continued obsession with telling the most unoriginal gangster stories imaginable. The writing is weak, the acting - despite clear passion from the lads - not up to the task of elevating said writing, the treatment of female characters appalling (I hesitate to use this criticism, but it really is eye-rollingly bad here), and the valuable portrayal of an underrepresented community undermined by the film's adherence to old crime film cliches. Even some of the better ideas - like the use of Irish rap on the soundtrack - are undermined by haphazard execution.

The recent Michael Inside isn't a masterpiece or anything, but it's a much more effective film in terms of capturing the social context many young people in some Dublin estates such as Darndale find themselves in and the humanity of the characters. Cardboard Gangsters is one of those films that would have benefited by truly bringing the setting to the forefront rather than this tired old gangster story.

Just to note, I don't begrudge the film's success - in fact, I'm happy that it became the hit it did if only to see Irish independent films getting such a chance. I just wish it was better than it is.

endacl

If you're watching on Netflix leave the subtitles on. Not because you won't understand the accents. Because whoever typed them clearly didn't!

Comical.

gargargar

endacl wrote: »

If you're watching on Netflix leave the subtitles on. Not because you won't understand the accents. Because whoever typed them clearly didn't!

Comical.

Yes I noticed that too

soiseztomabel

Finally got around to watching it, personally thought it was the drizzling ****s. John Connors should just go full on activist because he's already typecast himself after this.

Dr Brown

John Connors says he can't get an agent to represent him.

Wheeliebin30

Dr Brown wrote: »

John Connors says he can't get an agent to represent him.

Cry me a river.

Maybe if he stopped blaming the gubbement and media for travellers problems he might get somewhere.

Dr Brown

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Cry me a river.

Maybe if he stopped blaming the gubbement and media for travellers problems he might get somewhere.

Connors seems to have a massive chip on his shoulder.

HandsomeBob

Also watched it on Netflix.....it's held back by production constraints but was enjoyable and zipped by. Predictable and cliched but made unique to the Irish setting. Darndale only 15 minutes away from me so I could feel the authenticity.

You could feel the constraints in the first scene with them as adults where Dano is talking about murdering a boss and taking over. I mean talk about going from naught to 100 in the blink of an eye! That's at least 10 minutes of plot and character development ignored or dropped.

Speaking of Dano, unfortunately for that actor he represented the dodgier aspects of the acting as others have said. Will give the guy the benefit of the doubt and assume he was asked to play it like that. Otherwise the casting director should be shot.

I did enjoy the performance of the more level headed friend, would be very interested to see him in another role so I can establish whether he was just well cast or if he's a new potential Irish talent.

Always good to see the guy who played Noelie Hughes get work.....SHUT YOUR MOUTH YE BLEEDING YOKE YE

Half way through this and while it's a step up from King of the Travellers that's hardly a glowing recommendation. The acting, including Connor is poor, visually it's drab, the script is familiar and worst of all it's identical to a thousand others. It feels like one of those low budget English gangster films that is ten a penny, the kind of cheap trash the fills the bottom shelf of Dealz.

It's always nice to see an Irish film do well, just a shame that it's so uninspired. The English have been doing this since Lock Stock and doing it far better.

Finished it up and meh, it's so generic that its hard to be impressed by any of it. Sure it looks nice and has some nice visual motifs but its a soulless endeavour that does absolutely nothing that thousands of others haven't. You can find the exact same film littering up Netflix and bargain bins around the world.

Connors isn't much of an actor, he's about adequate and how anyone thought his performance was superior to Colin Farrel in Killing of a Sacred Deer is ridiculous. I guess it is true that all you have to do to win an IFTA is show up.

Fair play to them for making a film and as I said it's always nice to see an Irish film reach an audience, it's just a shame that the film is so poor.

StupidLikeAFox

gargargar wrote: »

The "crew" as such were 2 dimensional

Maybe they misunderstood the title of the film and went full on method

pixelburp

I find this film does nothing but reaffirm my own blindspot & prejudice when it comes to the Irish film industry, whose output seems to exist somewhere between Angela's Ashes and Love|Hate - Cardboard Gangsters obviously leaning more towards the latter. I try my best to be openminded, but more often than not the words 'Irish Film' make me run a mile. I recall some tattle - on this site IIRC - that the Irish Film Board look more favourably on scripts laced with domestic / inner-city misery and given what comes out, I could well believe it.

Like I said, I acknowledge it's a prejudice on my part, and I'm sure plenty of these films have their merits & I'm missing out on some gems, but if the movies offers some element of escapism then what amounts to Irish Film often comes off like the total opposite of that - a reverse comfort blanket of despair if you will, and how dreadful life in Ireland can be. Any 'Irish' films that counter that notion then tend to come via expats working with British studios, while our internal output is couched in depression.

MilesMorales1

pixelburp wrote: »

I find this film does nothing but reaffirm my own blindspot & prejudice when it comes to the Irish film industry, whose output seems to exist somewhere between Angela's Ashes and Love|Hate - Cardboard Gangsters obviously leaning more towards the latter. I try my best to be openminded, but more often than not the words 'Irish Film' make me run a mile. I recall some tattle - on this site IIRC - that the Irish Film Board look more favourably on scripts laced with domestic / inner-city misery and given what comes out, I could well believe it.

Like I said, I acknowledge it's a prejudice on my part, and I'm sure plenty of these films have their merits & I'm missing out on some gems, but if the movies offers some element of escapism then what amounts to Irish Film often comes off like the total opposite of that - a reverse comfort blanket of despair if you will, and how dreadful life in Ireland can be. Any 'Irish' films that counter that notion then tend to come via expats working with British studios, while our internal output is couched in depression.

Have you seen A Date for Mad Mary? It’s really very good.

pixelburp

pixelburp wrote: »

I find this film does nothing but reaffirm my own blindspot & prejudice when it comes to the Irish film industry, whose output seems to exist somewhere between Angela's Ashes and Love|Hate - Cardboard Gangsters obviously leaning more towards the latter. I try my best to be openminded, but more often than not the words 'Irish Film' make me run a mile. I recall some tattle - on this site IIRC - that the Irish Film Board look more favourably on scripts laced with domestic / inner-city misery and given what comes out, I could well believe it.

Like I said, I acknowledge it's a prejudice on my part, and I'm sure plenty of these films have their merits & I'm missing out on some gems, but if the movies offers some element of escapism then what amounts to Irish Film often comes off like the total opposite of that - a reverse comfort blanket of despair if you will, and how dreadful life in Ireland can be. Any 'Irish' films that counter that notion then tend to come via expats working with British studios, while our internal output is couched in depression.

I think a huge issue is the simple fact that the film board and Irish film, in general, is less interested in telling Irish stories than they are apeing what others are doing. Sure we get the odd gem but by and large Irish cinema is a byline for misery, nothing wrong with that if you have an interesting story to tell but most don't. Cardboard Gangsters is a great example, it's a film that has been made a thousand times before and beyond the accents is identical to the kind of cheap tat that Paul Tanter has turned into a cottage industry in the UK. It's cinema without a soul, listening to Connors talk about the film you'd swear they'd crafted the next Goodfellas or Godfather rather than a trashy geezers with guns film.

As for the Film Board, I was turned down but told that if I relocated the action to an area known for it's social and economic issues and dialled up the misery then I'd be in a better chance of getting funding. Nl

pixelburp

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Have you seen A Date for Mad Mary? It’s really very good.

I'd seen a fair bit of buzz about it all right, and the trailer did look like something a bit different - I'm guessing it bucks the trend of Irish Misery(™) ?

I agree with Darko's assertion above, that Irish Film seems uninterested / unwilling to forge its own creative path. Now, to be fair there are outliers such as Cartoon Saloon, showing distinctively Irish chops with 'Book of Kells' and 'Song of the Sea', but they seem very much the exception proving the rule. Animation tends to play by its own rules anyway.

yourdeadwright

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

Dr Brown wrote: »

John Connors says he can't get an agent to represent him.

Cry me a river.

Maybe if he stopped blaming the gubbement and media for travellers problems he might get somewhere.

This is the same bloke you can youtube and he's in real life bare knuckle fights and then complains about Travellers being stereo typed
I also think he has probably got more jobs from being a traveller than he would if he wasn't one, He's not exactly a fantastic actor , He started acting late in life and in fairness has done well for himself and fair play to him but I don't think he need to go back to the poor us every time he is on TV.

MilesMorales1

pixelburp wrote: »

I'd seen a fair bit of buzz about it all right, and the trailer did look like something a bit different - I'm guessing it bucks the trend of Irish Misery(™) ?

I agree with Darko's assertion above, that Irish Film seems uninterested / unwilling to forge its own creative path. Now, to be fair there are outliers such as Cartoon Saloon, showing distinctively Irish chops with 'Book of Kells' and 'Song of the Sea', but they seem very much the exception proving the rule. Animation tends to play by its own rules anyway.

I don't know if its that optimistic, I suppose its definitely funnier and got a lot more heart and soul than something like Cardboard Gangsters though.

I feel like everyone is being pretty harsh on this film. I enjoyed it, and aside from the black guy knew characters like all the other 3 lads with the same mannerisms and carry on growing up. The chap that is getting hammered by everyone for his crappy acting, people are saying no one goes on like that, but I've met people that go on like that. I don't feel like any of those characters were pushing the boat out too far at all.

Its not like the story was spectacular or anything in terms of originality, but for me it was a pretty accurate depiction of what goes on and thats why it has done well.

Connors obviously struggles with depression, and to have your father kill himself would be an awful thing to have to go through, and would scar you for life I'm fairly sure. Your own self worth is going to be seriously affected, and probably why he contemplated suicide himself. Growing up in the traveller environment as well is hardly going to be rounded and in any way healthy. So I'd be a bit more restrained before having a go at him. I say congrats for doing something with his life, that probably no other traveller has been able to do.