Five great Irish movies

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Whether set in Ireland or crafted by Irish filmmakers, these flicks make for perfect post-St. Patrick’s Day viewing.

In America

“In America” poignantly follows an Irish family as they immigrate to the U.S., and land in a run-down New York apartment complex. Led by Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine (with no less credit offered young and superb Sarah and Emma Bolger, real-life sisters who play sisters on screen), the cast is exemplary. What makes the movie essential viewing is the backstory involving Irish director Jim Sheridan, who based the tale on his own past and wrote the script with his daughters.

The Crying Game

Though remembered most for the revealing money shot heard ’round the world, “The Crying Game,” which focuses on the love triangle of IRA soldier Fergus (Stephen Rea), his ill-fated counterpart Jody (Forest Whitaker) and transgender hairdresser Dil (Jaye Davidson), should be singled out as a starkly original thriller, helmed by Irish director Neil Jordan. The film is streaked with political unrest, and while it was groundbreaking in its time, it ages remarkably well.

Bloody Sunday

The movie that made Paul Greengrass an industry name to be reckoned with, “Bloody Sunday” recounts Northern Ireland’s 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings, and focuses on Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), a politician who organizes the story’s doomed civil rights march. Though initially made for TV, “Bloody Sunday” was a Sundance smash, and it announced Greengrass as a master of handheld-cam immediacy.

Hunger

Before he confronted history with “12 Years a Slave,” filmmaker Steve McQueen burst on the scene with this unnerving masterwork, which tells the true tale of imprisoned IRA martyr Bobby Sands (a then-unknown Michael Fassbender) and the behind-bars hunger strike he organized in protest. McQueen turns even the ugliest moments into jolts of audiovisual artistry, and he hasn’t topped himself since.

Once

As bittersweet as the musical it inspired, John Carney’s “Once” takes a poetic and naturalistic approach to blooming love, shining a light on two Dublin-based musicians (real-life sweethearts Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) who rock each other’s lives despite being together for a short while. Penned and performed by the stars, the music is as memorable as the movie. 

Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.

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