TEN MOST UNDERRATED IRISH MOVIES

Fed up going into your local store and seeing Dancing at Lughnasa and Into the West on the shelves? Worried that you've seen everything that needs to be seen? Well here's a list of Irish titles that you should try and see.

Quackser Fortune has a cousin in the Bronx
This movie was made in 1970 in Dublin and is far better than most movie efforts made here since. It stars both Gene Wilder and Margot Kidder before they were famous. Quackser collects horse manure and sells to gardeners around the city as fertiliser. Kidder is an American student who falls for Wilder whenever she's away from her friends. But it's a different matter when she's in college. You see she doesn't understand how Irish society works and invites Quackser to a dance where he stands out. It's a great little movie that few have seen and has a counter-culture slant that most Irish movies lack.

Rat
Could never understand why this movie wasn't more popular? It didn't even get a wide release in the cinemas when it came out over a decade ago. It's directed by Steve Barron (the best Irish director you've never heard of) and stars some big names. Even Bob Geldof contributed to the soundtrack music. So why didn't it do well? Probably because it's another Oirish movie where the son wants to become a priest and the mother is a domineering person? Maybe because it got released in the Celtic Tiger years where a working-class family in Kimmage was not in favour? Whatever reason it's the public's loss as it's a good and funny movie. In fact it's a rare Irish movie where the cast play it for laughs and it succeeds. Hear that Zonad!

Another shore
Little-known Ealing comedy about Robert Beatty slacking it out in black and white Dublin. He sits on the steps outside TCD and like Quackser Fortune falls for a student there.

No resting place
Another little-known movie about travellers. This is a rare naturalistic movie instead of realist. It's a very impressive movie and like a lot of these films is impossible to see. Well I've seen it and it's far, far better than stuff like Into the West.

Hard shoulder
Another movie not many people have seen. This one came out during the interregnum of the two Irish Film Boards. It's a TV road movie about a group of Dubliners selling fire extinguishers down the country. The story is a silly tale about incest. What's impressive is that it capures the pre-Celtic Tiger era so well. In other word the zeitgeist of 1980's Ireland in recession.

Country
Yet another movie you can't see easily. It's like a conspiracy! Made a decade ago this is another rural drama set in the '50s/'60s about the tensions in a family. The only difference is that it's rather good. Moving away from the routine telefilm style we've seen too often with these titles Country is by far the best in this dreaded sub-genre. Some of it even resembles Days of Heaven!

Pigs
Of course this one isn't available either (unless you can track down an old VHS copy). Yes, it's a sad fact that the first Film Board funded more interesting work than the current Board. It's recession-scarred '80s Dublin and a group of dropouts live in a derelict building. We should be making stuff like this again these days instead of Zonad!

Short order
Reckon if you watched this movie you'll be stunned about how impressive it is. I mean really good. In the sense that the impressive lighting and cinematography actually work for a change in an Irish movie rather than distracting the viewer. Lots of very attractive women in the cast for a change too! It's an Irish movie in a European-style. Think The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and you've got the idea. Lots of lush lighting, music, intelligent discussions, friendly characters, an indoor set that looks like a movie set intentionally, and lots of food!

Dementia 13
Probably the first and best Irish horror movie. It's out everywhere on DVD so there's no excuse. Coppola's debut feature too.

Winter's end
Independent Irish movie from about the middle of the noughties. This one can be got on mail order in Kilkenny. It's an impressive debut digital feature about a deranged farmer who has no heir. Responsible for a splurge of Irish low-budget digital features all done in a similar style.