Noble

Well-made and enjoyable biography of an Irish charity worker. The movie moves back and forth in time between her upbringing and later life in Vietnam. O'Kane uses her annoying personality to good effect in the role and the little girl at the start of the film is a natural. Elements of Philomena in the story, uses too much handheld camerawork (don't sit in the front row!) and that dire band Coldplay's music is on the soundtrack. But it's a marvellous picture that's uplifting, educational, and avoids the banalities of a TV movie. Really good stuff so well done to all involved.

Title: Noble
Genre: Bio
New/old: New
Cinema/DVD: Cinema

A nightingale falling

Strange I watched The beguiled on DVD last week and now this similar Irish movie arrives? A wounded soldier gets treated by lonely rural women in 1920's Ireland. Sadly, it's the Graham Cantwell school of filmmaking once again: laughable dialogue ("I'm pregnant, I am with child"), cinematography that doesn't suit, bad acting, intruding soundtrack music in every scene, too much story that doesn't know when to end, timid fight scenes, and a complete lack of originality. There must be half-a-dozen movies by now about the Big Houses in 1920's Ireland? All better than this! It's really sad that new Irish filmmakers make this bland, contrived rubbish. If anyone wants to see why Irish cinema is currently being slated for its lack of intelligence here is a good example!

Title: A nightingale falling
Genre: IRA
New/old: New
Cinema/DVD: Cinema

SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE WILL HARM IRISH FILM!

Only a few days left and if Scotland does becomes independent it will be bad news for Ireland's film industry. Not only have they got better golf courses, inventors, poets, record labels, and rock bands than we do but they can achieve everything we did but with more. That includes enticing tourists and multinationals to their country instead of here. As for Irish film forget it! Those Hollywood companies will move to Scotland instead and Euro-film funding will go there too. Do you think the Scottish IFTAs would be as embarrassing as ours? Are Scotland's schools full of women teaching kids religion instead of maths? Bob Geldof is correct: (for the sake of Ireland's would-be film industry) they should stay in the Union!

Silence

Dull movie about a sound recordist who travels from Germany to the West of Ireland. He meets various people through English and Irish and tries to record natural sounds. Slow-moving and visually based it's boring and rather one-dimensional. Lots of older footage of people living in the past this movie goes nowhere and does nothing new. If you've seen stuff like Radio on and I could read the sky you will not be impressed with this effort. Surely if he wanted to record silence he should have visited Roscommon?

Title: Silence
Genre: Road
New/old: New
Cinema/DVD: DVD