More movie suggestions...

slowair · Post by **slowair** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:23 pm

A while back, someone asked for movie titles with traditional Irish music in them. I copied down all the titles and borrowed each from the library. There were good and bad.

I'm not looking so much for the music as I am the history, culture and especially the humor of Ireland.

Movies that I have seen include:

Waking Ned Devine (By far THE best!)
Barry Lyndon (By far THE worst!!!)
Agnes Brown (Very funny)
Miller's Crossing
Michael Collins (Good flick...skeptical of the accuracy)
Angela's Ashes (Depressing, but telling)
The Secret of Roan Inish (Wonderful, magical...my kind of film)
The Nephew (Didn't really see it...the film was broke)
The Matchmaker (This weekend)
The Quiet Man (One of my all time favorites!)

Others that were suggested are:

The Field
Black Sunday
The Van

So, what say ye? What other Irish films would you suggest? Doesn't matter if there is IrTrad in them.

And if you haven't seen Waking Ned Devine yet, this is a must see movie. One of the best endings to a movie ever!!!

Thanks,
Mike

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Tue Apr 13, 2004 10:36 pm

There are brief appearances by whistlers playing Irish trad in The Devil's Own and Road to Perdition.

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:13 am

Ryan's Daughter is a good one. I don't remember if there's much music in it but it does depict the tension between country folk and the British "occupying army" around the time of WWI.
Mike

Steven · Post by **Steven** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 7:00 am

Circle of Friends is about young women coming of age in Ireland in about the '50s. Not my favorite movie in the world, although my ex loved it. It does pretty much fit the description of what you're looking for, though (real life in Ireland, albeit not current real life).

Steven

beowulf573 · Post by **beowulf573** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 7:27 am

I seem to remember <a href="http://imdb.com/title/tt0104522/">Into the West</a> making use of trad, good movie even if it doesn't.

Eddie

OnTheMoor · Post by **OnTheMoor** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 8:01 am

Veronic Guerin is a good one... but not much music that I can remember, really weird Fields of Athenry though.

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:01 am

Hear My Song (1992). Some footage of the cliffs of Moher if I remember aright.

BrassBlower · Post by **BrassBlower** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:31 am

Not a movie, but the theme music to the TV series "Early Edition" (now in syndication on PAX) has whistles in it.

amar · Post by **amar** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:33 am

well, there was titanic..

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 9:44 am

The Commitments has music in it

and there's 'Traveller' [at least I think that was the title] whch has a very young Davy Spillane in it, with some piping and low whistle.

pthouron · Post by **pthouron** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:01 am

Evelyn, a surprisingly good film with Pierce Brosnan about an Irish father fighting for custody of his children. Some good music/pub scenes (I think Pierce even does his own singing).

The Magdalene Sisters Not much music, but a chilling look at an institution where Irish women who had "strayed off the path" were sent and abused for years by Catholic nuns. Not your light comedy, but excellent movie.

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:01 am

amar wrote:well, there was titanic..

What was that, Amar, could you speak a little LOUDER please?

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:07 am

At risk of being branded a heretic, I'll suggest my favorite movie, which is themed with beautiful Scottish style music, including some folk singing--Rob Roy.

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 10:46 am

Behind the Waterfall

Starring Gary Burghoff (of MASH fame).

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 11:26 am

This is My Father- James Caan, Aidan Quinn. Has a ceilidh dance scene (with a fist fight). Good movie. James Caan goes back to Ireland to find out who his father was and what mysterious tragedy occured. Aidan Quinn plays the father in flashbacks as neighbors tell the story to Caan.

Run of the Country- don't remember any music, but liked the film. Young man, his father is the town constable in rural Ireland. He gets a girl pregnant and has to deal with her brothers and uncles, etc. (It's not all grim, well, maybe not.)

The Playboys- about travelling actors in the 1930's or so. Aidan Quinn again. Takes place in a small rural town.

The Snapper- comedy about a young woman who gets pregnant and won't let her family know who the father is. Lots of cussing.

First recommendation if you look for anything is the BBC miniseries, The Irish RM (Royal Magistrate) about a gentle Englishman who gets assigned to be a judge in rural Ireland around the turn of the century (1900). Hilarious. It opens with the jig, Haste to the Wedding, a jig, played on fiddle. Written by two women from their first hand experiences of the time. Favorite line, by surly housekeeper, " I've a pain in me hip that'd bring down a horse." The characters are connivers and bootleggers and the judge always gets innocently drawn into their schemes and ends up looking like a culprit.

Tony