Stumbled across this ... The American. A 1998 adaptation of a Henry James novel filmed in Ireland - standing in for 19th century France.
Lead actor is American Matthew Modine.
But almost all the rest of the cast are Irish - Brenda Fricker, Aisling O'Sullivan, Andrew Scott, Eva Birthistle, TP McKenna.
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/498095-the-american
By pure luck I recently discovered an Irish horror from 1986 called Raw Head Rex. It's based on a Clive Barker story and it's about a pagan troll type thing that's resurrected by lightning after thousands of years and goes on a rampage throughout the countryside. Niall Toibín stars in it also. I'm looking forward to watching it :D
Think its been mentioned in passing in the thread, the Outcasts (1982). Directed by Robert Wynne Simmons who wrote the early 70s British folk horror Blood On Satan's Claw. This is a hard one to categorise but its got elements of folk horror. Like a lot of Irish tv, film of the period its languishing in the archives , its not sure if an actual print still exists. I read somewhere online that the IFC have a damaged videotape of it. Its up on YouTube taken from seems to be a home recording from when it was shown on tv, probably Channel 4.
Its interesting to see a just pre Glenroe Mick Lally in a lead role. He was a superb actor who went on to get completely typecast as Miley. The female lead Mary Ryans imdb listing is scant but elsewhere I see she was in Ros Na Run a few years ago.
RTE Archives website is currently running a feature on cult Irish films (not showing them) with some info on their current status. Good news is that the Outcasts is due to be re-released.
The Outcasts was on the IFI last week.
I taped Poitin off TG4
November Afternoon and Park are both very good. Late night RTE 2 showings.
Paul Duane is on his second Twitter account. I am blocked on the first one despite never having interacted with him.
Has anyone seen this, the Hard Way (1980)
Irish cinema has some real gems, great thread! I hopefully will view a few of these over the next couple weeks.
This Irish short movie is - IMHO - one of the best movies ever in the history of mankind.
Flying Saucer Rock'n'Roll
Yes, it's a gritty B-movie. I really enjoyed it but wouldn't be for everyone. Somewhere between a noir and a western. Some nice shots of old Dublin.
Brilliant! A young Fr Dougal and Fr Damo too...
Choosing Signs is up on Youtube. My buddy who thought his scenes were cut was wrong, he's still in it. Jesus this is awful, its like the Room only with zero laughs.
The Treaty
One for Halloween… 1982 The Outcasts, starring Mick Lally and Cyril Cusack.
https://www.rte.ie/culture/2023/1125/1415416-irish-cult-movie-classics-the-outcasts/
https://ifi.ie/film/from-the-vaults-the-outcasts/
Saw this one a good while back, my cousin Philip Bredin had a role in this, you might remember him briefly as the wedding singer with his band at the start of the Commitments.
How To Cheat the Leaving Cert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Cheat_in_the_Leaving_Certificate
Picked it up on BD earlier this month. I remember watching on 6 January 1984.
one of the writers Tadhg O’Higgins was in the English Literary Society with me in UCD. Good film.
An 1999 John Carney movie called "Park", it was about a teenaged girl mithing off school hanging around a park in her school uniform, an old man comes up to her and starts making small talk, seems harmless enough but he ends up raping her.
Apparently the audience booed at a screening and the director was there and thus cancelled the q&a😀
Small Engine Repair - 2006 movie starring Iain Glen who plays a struggling country singer in a small hostile town.
Decent movie - saw it on TV about 15 years ago.
Often mixed up with Garage which came out the following year
S
shown on TV once, late at night. Bad buzz.
Back in the day when weird/obscure interesting stuff would pop up after midnight on RTE from time to time. Now it's just repeats of Operation Transformation and Telly Bingo but at least we all have the internet now unlike the early 00s.
Eden - 2008 movie from Eugene O'Brien the writer of Pure Mule.
A bleak drama looking at the disintegration of a couples marriage as their 10th wedding anniversary approaches.
The Halo Effect is one of my favourite Irish movies. Not many people know about it sadly. It stars Stephen Rea as a gambling addicted chip shop owner. Supporting cast includes Simon Delaney, John Kavanagh, Gerard McSorley, Mick Lally as a drunken priest, Laurence Kinlan and the guy who played Paschal in Fair City as a “penniless” hobo.
Philadelphia, Here I Come!
1974 Movie adaptation of Brian Friel's play - saw this on RTE one when they used to show late night movies on a Friday night years ago -would love to see it again.
Theres clips on Youtube and sometimes you might stumble upon the full film.
I remember watching it for the Leaving Cert.
What Richard Did.
Might be too recent though.
A Shine of Rainbows, a bit of an Oirish affair starring Aidan Quinn and Connie Nielsen. But it had some lovely Inishowen locations.
The Front Line (2006). A Congolese immigrant security guard is forced to take part in a robbery by Dublin criminals.
I Went Down (1997)
Brendan Gleeson and Peter McDonald as a pair of hapless criminals tasked with collecting a crime bosses associate in Cork. Decent comedy/drama movie.
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