Riders to the sea

For anyone who thinks music in Irish cinema stretches to The commitments and Once here's an opera! Made back in the 1980s by respected Louis Lentin it's based on the famous play. This isn't a static filmmaking of a live opera, it got made in a studio using pans, dissolves, and cuts. Short-TV feature which is difficult to follow as all dialogue gets sung. A woman laments the deaths of her children by the sea. Starts off with the writer working in a cottage. Impressive stuff and shows how dumbed down RTE has become since then.

Title: Riders to the sea
Genre: Opera
New/old: Old
Cinema/DVD: DVD

Last September

One of the best 'lost movies' funded by our Film Board. This is another IRA film set in Cork in the 1920s but here it focuses on a family living in a Big House. A young woman gets involved with both a British army officer and a rebel leading to tragedy. A splendid cast, stunning cinematography, interesting dialogue, and excellent direction this is one of the best Irish movies ever. What's impressive is that the characters take precedence over any action (which gets given brief treatment). It's an absolute disgrace that this movie has been forgotten. It never gets mentioned in books on Irish cinema either. The only bad thing I have to say is that it's similar to an older picture called The dawning.

Title: The last September
Genre: IRA
New/old: Old
Cinema/DVD: DVD (region 1)