Customer Reviews

Black Irish

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

BLACK IRISH is one of those little Independent films that manage to give more to the audience than the extreme constrictions of time and budget would suggest. Writer/director Brad Gunn (his first film) manages to tell a story about an Irish family from South Boston that is sincere, realistic, poignant, and profound, and though he worked with a small budget and a shooting schedule of 22 days, he has produced a fine little gem of a film.

The McKay family has problems: father Desmond (Brendan Glesson) lacks work and spends most of his time drinking beer and watching baseball on TV, having been a promising baseball player as a youngster but nipped by the Vietnam War into glum lethargy; mother Margaret (Melissa Leo) resents the shadow of the man she married and works as a social worker to support her family; daughter Kathleen (Emily VanKamp) is pregnant, unwed, and when denied the choice of abortion by her mother's strong Catholicism is determined to have the child by herself, giving it the loving home she feels she has been denied; son Terry (Tom Guiry) is a tortured delinquent who is a gang member and always in conflict with the law; and youngest son Cole (the excellent young 20-year-old Michael Angarano of 'One Last Thing', 'Man in the Chair', 'Snow Angels', 'Lords of Dogtown', 'Seabiscuit', etc) is conflicted by wanting to be a priest versus wanting to be a professional baseball player - he is the good kid and the last hope of his parents.

Terry tricks Cole into accompanying a house break-in and the trouble begins. The financial crisis at home drives Cole to get a job in a restaurant, and drives Desmond to menial work shining shoes. The family will support Kathleen's pregnancy, but that strips the income to the point that Cole must leave his Catholic school to be in public school, and while that seems to dash his hopes for a career in baseball, the coach at his public school (Finn Curtin) acknowledges Cole's talent and promises a future. Terry's lifestyle as a hoodlum presents increasing problems and at one point Cole gathers the courage to confront Terry during a robbery plot at Cole's work place and Terry is seriously wounded. We discover a hidden fact about Desmond that explains some of his sociopath behavior to his family and it is this discovery, coinciding with Terry's gunshot injury and Kathleen's tough life as an unwed working pregnant girl, that pulls the family unit back together.

If the plot sound like soap opera rest assured it is not. This is an intensely realistic examination of a fragile Irish Catholic family striving to makes sense of a world that is increasingly chaotic. All of the actors are excellent, but the extraordinary sensitivity and skill of young Michael Angarano make this a film to cherish. And Brad Gann is assuredly a talent to watch! Very highly recommended. Grady Harp, January 08

This is a gut wrenching yet heartwarming story with superb acting by most of the cast - real to life. Highly recommended.

i consider this to be one of the better films i have seen in quite some time. such a good mix of bright and dark, humour and pathos as real life is.

the bid with the bird flying into the window is worth watching the movie even if you don't like the rest of it.

Wow! Black Irish is a lost masterpiece in the world of drama films. It's about an Irish family that moves to Boston, and while there, each of the five family members (a father, mother, two brothers and a sister) each have their own problems. Their problems range from minor to significant, but ALWAYS constant. This becomes apparent right from the beginning when you see that the two brothers are not exactly on the same page.

If there's one really tiny complaint, it's that the sister problems didn't get much attention in comparison to the rest of her family, but then again, her problems (without revealing anything) have been the topic of choice in several other movies.

The majority of the storyline focuses on the extremely rocky relationship between the two brothers. One brother always appears good and honest, while the other one is definitely a punk and a troublermaker, always picking on his younger brother and forcing him to do things he wants absolutely no part of.

The younger brother has dreams about being a baseball player. That's what he wants more than anything else. However, he has a really hard time convincing his parents that's what he wants, and his mother in particular thinks it's nothing more than a foolish dream. The father however, turns out to be a big baseball fan.

The father has some pretty devastating secrets and might be the most underrated character in the film. You really feel for him.

The drama segments are really interesting because they go through a TON of twists and turns. It really makes you feel for this family and hope they pull through with their numerous problems. You really become attached to each family member. You experience anger, sadness, tension, and several other emotions as the fictional family on your TV screen goes through pretty much anything you can think of. You never really feel happiness however. It's a pretty depressing storyline overall.

I really like the realism aspect of the Irish family coming to America and losing a small portion of their accent. That's usually how it happens, so that aspect of the storyline seemed pretty realistic to me.

I'm not sure if the ending is more disappointing or satisfying. You have to see it to know what I mean. I'm just not sure. Maybe that's the *only* way to sum up all those horrible events so I'll cut it some slack.

Overall, Black Irish is one heck of an underrated film. It's interesting, emotional, and written brilliantly. I really think you'll love it.

"Black Irish" is a captivating, moving, faithfully rendered, coming of age story set in south Boston. It lifts the veil and enables us to see how resentment, self-righteousness, alcoholism, lack of self-control and rebelliousness tear families and communities apart. It also shows how destructive the tendency to divide life up into sacred and secular compartments can be. The McKay family could have benefited from the belief that God can be exalted on a baseball diamond or in any proper job. The movie shows how pain can sometimes bring people together, and it does all of this with a blend of pathos and humor. For example, I loved the scene when Mrs. McKay asks Terry to forgive her, but I also loved Cole's first date scene. Warning: first dates can be harmful to birds and to audience members who laugh too hard. Rated R for some thematic elements, language and brief violence.

Short Attention Span Summary:

1. There is a stereotyped White Trash Irish-American family (the mother is apparently native-born Irish).
2. They have 3 children, 2 of whom are in some state of dysfunction. The daughter is pregnant. The older brother is a thief/ dope-friend.
3. The younger boy wants to be a baseball player and is trying to hold down a job. It seems that he wants to be a baseball player at the expense of going into the priesthood.
4. The father seems to have lots of problems finding/ keeping work (and it is later found out that he is dying from some type of cancer).
5. Eventually the older brother is shot while trying to commit a robbery, and the film basically ends there.

This movie was pretty good in that it was not hackneyed (i.e., every single conflict was wrapped up at the end of the film and everybody kissed and was happy). The characters were well developed and well cast. Nor was the movie overly-dramatic. Since there weren't any really big name actors in the film, they actually did more than could be expected with what they actually had.

I could have done without the insistence of the writer that the characters be of Irish descent, but that wasn't enough to diminish the movie significantly.

tHIS is a beautifully crafted film. I understand it was made in 22 days. Clearly small budget, but not small scope, poignancy, or amatuerish.

This film-maker knows what he's doing.

Make it a family experience. Human problems worth discussing afterwards.

sincerely,

sidney B. Simon

Thought this was a well done movie. A real American story of Family and not Fantasy.Little known actors that deliver big.I would recomend this movie to any one living in the real world.Some people don't get it that life happens and people get through it bye playiong the cards they are delt.

It was such a pleasure to watch this realistic and compelling piece of work from writer director Brad Gann. It is the story of a family trying to cope and stuggle with many different issues all at the same time. Set in South Boston, it presents a very realistic and intense view of family life. Michael Angarano is simply fantastic as the younger of three siblings trying to cope with an Irish Catholic family that is both dysfunctional and bursting with intense love. Older brother Terry, portrayed with honesty and intelligence by Tom Guiry, cannot seem to find his niche in the world while daughter Kate struggles with a pregnancy that is shameful at first to her family. As these characters collide we discover a lost talent the father, Brendan Gleeson In Bruges, simply threw away has resurfaced in his younger child Angarano (he is a prodigy pitcher at baseball.) This Echo Bridge release should not be missed and the emoting of these actors are rare and first rate. The stunning conclusion, which I will not give away here, will make your heart swell. It is simply a gem and if you get the chance buy it. You will not regret it.

I grew up in the city of Woodside, Queens New York. The whole neighborhood was Irish Catholic and as the mother in this movie protests the daughter's decision to have an abortion and cart her away so the neighbors won't talk. This also was the Black Irish of Woodside. In the end the mother was right and therefore my mom and dad had 11 children. I used to ask her why she had so many kids and she would say, "who would you like me to give back?" Then she'd name my siblings from the oldest to the youngest and I'd shiver in fear of the thought of losing any of them.

I had a tough older brother who always was getting into trouble and I was the passive one. It took the police to get him back into shape in his early teen years but since about the age of 19 he has been a fine upstanding citizen since with a wife from Woodside. In fact my other brother married her sister so it's all in the neighborhood. Since then we have all moved away from Woodside which looks like a different country now.

Yes my dad was as stubborn as the father here. He drank every day but did what ever he could to support us. He had a fine job with Ma Bell phone company for 25 years and used to wash down the altar at St. Theresa's Church and school around the corner to help pay the tuition. He died at 52 from cancer but not before holding his first grandchild who is Afro-American/Irish and the gem of our hearts.

I felt like I was watching my life pass by my eyes. My cousins live in Boston and they're the same as us but we didn't get to see each other as much as we wanted growing up since it was hard to bring 11 children over for the weekend.

My friend is of Danish ancestory and he enjoyed it as much as I did. I saw his tears swell in many of the scenes. Terry was tough from lack of understanding and love and when he reached out to the Marine recruiter he was cut down again. Cole loved his whole family as much as Terry but Cole had the ability to share it, keep quiet when he knew talking would do no good but persisted in his dreams. My first job was also in a fine Italian eatery. Like another reviewer the bird scene on Cole's first date is hysterical.

If ever there was a movie that was pitch perfect to the fact it surely is this one. I must say to another reviewer that streets are empty in a movie so the viewer can see the scenery otherwise if it was packed as I'm sure it usually is one might not know where they are.

The police also let us get away with things that were not so much crimminal but not always upright. Of course they also were Irish Catholic too. Everyone knew everyone.

Another great movie that's out on DVD is In BurgesIn Brugeswith the father from this movie and Colin Farell. It's not in the states but it's funny as all get out. My father was born in Galway, Ireland with his thick black Irish hair and my mother's mother was from County Claire.

Someone give that guy back his $24. I'm sorry he didn't enjoy it as much as the rest of us and I believe it's totally unfair to give it one star. But he certainly has the right to say what he thinks of it as we all have our own opinions.