Boxing has always transferred well to the screen because it is an individual sport with individual stories. Boxers may have family, friends, managers, and a training corner, but aside from ringside yells of "cover-up!" and "go to the body!" these fighters are on their own. This isn't tennis or golf, and the stakes are higher than returning your opponent's serve or knocking a small white ball into a hole. This is boxing, a game of rules-based violence that sanitizes aggression into a test of speed, power, tactics, and strategy.
It is not just the ring that's fertile dramatic ground, either. Much of the intensity comes from these fighters' lives, which are often marked by crime, poverty, and hardship. It is no wonder that cinema has seen so many boxing films in its 120+ year history, producing a great deal of wheat but also a fair amount of chaff. To help you navigate this broad oeuvre,...
It is not just the ring that's fertile dramatic ground, either. Much of the intensity comes from these fighters' lives, which are often marked by crime, poverty, and hardship. It is no wonder that cinema has seen so many boxing films in its 120+ year history, producing a great deal of wheat but also a fair amount of chaff. To help you navigate this broad oeuvre,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Jack Hawkins
- Slash Film
L.A.-based indie distributor Cinema Epoch has acquired U.S. rights to “Penance,” the English- and Irish-language movie about a priest confronting his past as a firebrand preacher who promoted violence against British rule in Northern Ireland.
Tom Collins helmed the picture, which is produced by his Derry-based De Facto Films and Edwina Forkin’s Zanzibar Films. Broadcaster TG4, The Irish Film Board, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Language Broadcast fund supported the project. Collins’ Gaelic-language movie, “Kings,” was Ireland’s first foreign-language entry to the Oscars in 2007.
Peter Coonan (“Love/Hate”) plays the priest whose youthful support for violent resistance across a divided Ireland catches up with him in later life. Barry Barnes (“71”) and Gerard McSorley (“Omagh”) also star.
London-based Starline Entertainment is handling worldwide sales of “Penance” and did the Cinema Epoch deal. Julie Delaney, Starline’s director of worldwide distribution, negotiated the agreement with Cinema Epoch...
Tom Collins helmed the picture, which is produced by his Derry-based De Facto Films and Edwina Forkin’s Zanzibar Films. Broadcaster TG4, The Irish Film Board, Northern Ireland Screen, and the Irish Language Broadcast fund supported the project. Collins’ Gaelic-language movie, “Kings,” was Ireland’s first foreign-language entry to the Oscars in 2007.
Peter Coonan (“Love/Hate”) plays the priest whose youthful support for violent resistance across a divided Ireland catches up with him in later life. Barry Barnes (“71”) and Gerard McSorley (“Omagh”) also star.
London-based Starline Entertainment is handling worldwide sales of “Penance” and did the Cinema Epoch deal. Julie Delaney, Starline’s director of worldwide distribution, negotiated the agreement with Cinema Epoch...
- 10/1/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Starline Entertainment will handle worldwide sales on “Penance,” the new movie from lauded Irish filmmaker Tom Collins.
“Penance” alternates between Ireland during the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule and the city of Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, during what became grimly known as “the Troubles.” A Catholic priest is forced to confront his past as a firebrand preacher promoting violence against British rule in Ireland when a former protege who fell under his influence reappears 50 years later as a hardened Ira gunman.
Shot in English and Gaelic, the film stars Peter Coonan (“Love/Hate”), Barry Barnes (“71”), and Gerard McSorley (“Omagh”).
“In these times of loudly debating nationalism, borders and Brexit, I hope this film, through the central character’s story, underlines that we are always a few heartbeats away from violence and we can live to regret ill-judged rhetoric,” Collins said.
Collins is acknowledged as Ireland’s leading director of Irish-language content.
“Penance” alternates between Ireland during the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule and the city of Derry/Londonderry in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, during what became grimly known as “the Troubles.” A Catholic priest is forced to confront his past as a firebrand preacher promoting violence against British rule in Ireland when a former protege who fell under his influence reappears 50 years later as a hardened Ira gunman.
Shot in English and Gaelic, the film stars Peter Coonan (“Love/Hate”), Barry Barnes (“71”), and Gerard McSorley (“Omagh”).
“In these times of loudly debating nationalism, borders and Brexit, I hope this film, through the central character’s story, underlines that we are always a few heartbeats away from violence and we can live to regret ill-judged rhetoric,” Collins said.
Collins is acknowledged as Ireland’s leading director of Irish-language content.
- 3/28/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
In the summer of 2017 Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis surprised Hollywood, London, and the entire entertainment world when he revealed that he is retiring from acting and would make no more films. His final performance in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s recently-released “Phantom Thread” has brought Day-Lewis his sixth Oscar nomination and his eighth Golden Globe nom (losing there to Gary Oldman for “Darkest Hour”).
One of the most respected actors of his generation, Day-Lewis is the only man who has won three Oscars for Best Actor. Those victories were for “My Left Foot” (1989), “There Will Be Blood” (2007), and “Lincoln” (2012). In fact he is one of only three men to win acting Oscars three times; the others are Walter Brennan and Jack Nicholson. In addition, he has won two Best Actor awards each from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes.
Most importantly (if retirement actually happens), he will have left...
One of the most respected actors of his generation, Day-Lewis is the only man who has won three Oscars for Best Actor. Those victories were for “My Left Foot” (1989), “There Will Be Blood” (2007), and “Lincoln” (2012). In fact he is one of only three men to win acting Oscars three times; the others are Walter Brennan and Jack Nicholson. In addition, he has won two Best Actor awards each from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes.
Most importantly (if retirement actually happens), he will have left...
- 2/3/2018
- by Tom O'Brien and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
The Ifta nominated feature film 'Anton' has been released for rental under its international title 'Trapped' in the UK and Ireland. Released through High Fliers Films, the film will be available to buy in January 2012. The 2008 thriller, directed by Graham Cantwell (The Callback Queen), stars Gerard McSorley (Veronica Guerin), Anthony Fox (The General) and Laura Way (The Silence) and is produced by Patrick Clarke (Beyond the Pale) and Anthony Fox.
- 11/24/2011
- IFTN
DVD Playhouse—November 2010
By Allen Gardner
Paths Of Glory (Criterion) Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 antiwar classic put him on the map as a major filmmaker. Kirk Douglas stars in a true story about a French officer in Ww I who locks horns with the military’s top brass after his men are court-martialed for failing to carry out an obvious suicide mission. A perfect film, across the board, with fine support from George Macready as one of the most despicable martinet’s ever captured on film, Ralph Meeker, and Adolphe Menjou, all oily charm as a conniving General. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins; Excerpt from 1966 audio interview with Kubrick; 1979 interview with Douglas; New interviews with Jan Harlan, Christiane Kubrick, and producer James B. Harris; French television documentary on real-life case which inspired the film; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Winter’S Bone (Lionsgate) After her deadbeat father disappears,...
By Allen Gardner
Paths Of Glory (Criterion) Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 antiwar classic put him on the map as a major filmmaker. Kirk Douglas stars in a true story about a French officer in Ww I who locks horns with the military’s top brass after his men are court-martialed for failing to carry out an obvious suicide mission. A perfect film, across the board, with fine support from George Macready as one of the most despicable martinet’s ever captured on film, Ralph Meeker, and Adolphe Menjou, all oily charm as a conniving General. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins; Excerpt from 1966 audio interview with Kubrick; 1979 interview with Douglas; New interviews with Jan Harlan, Christiane Kubrick, and producer James B. Harris; French television documentary on real-life case which inspired the film; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.
Winter’S Bone (Lionsgate) After her deadbeat father disappears,...
- 11/6/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Versatile director Joel Schumacher followed up his thriller Phone Booth with the gritty biopic Veronica Guerin. But was it a creative stretch too far?
"You'd do the same. If you saw those kids on the street, you would do the same."- Veronica
The Recap
Riding high on the wave of success of Phone Booth, Joel Schumacher's next film would see him taking on the tricky biopic genre. While not the obvious choice for such a project, he steamed ahead regardless, enlisting the help of über producer Jerry Bruckheimer (known mostly for action films). The finished piece probably wasn't what either of them were expecting.
Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett) was a crime reporter for the Irish Sunday Independent. Aware of how badly the illegal drugs trade in Dublin was effecting the lives of everyday people, especially the city's youth, she decided to investigate the problem further and expose those responsible.
"You'd do the same. If you saw those kids on the street, you would do the same."- Veronica
The Recap
Riding high on the wave of success of Phone Booth, Joel Schumacher's next film would see him taking on the tricky biopic genre. While not the obvious choice for such a project, he steamed ahead regardless, enlisting the help of über producer Jerry Bruckheimer (known mostly for action films). The finished piece probably wasn't what either of them were expecting.
Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett) was a crime reporter for the Irish Sunday Independent. Aware of how badly the illegal drugs trade in Dublin was effecting the lives of everyday people, especially the city's youth, she decided to investigate the problem further and expose those responsible.
- 7/22/2010
- Den of Geek
Irish comedian David McSavage's new project, 'The Savage Eye', begins a six-part run on Monday, November 23rd. The series aims to be a satirical and surreal examination of subjects close to the hearts of the Irish people such as the arts, property, sex and religion. The first episode will ask the question 'Why are the Irish so influential in the world of Arts?' 'The Savage Eye' takes the form of a fake anthropological documentary and features sketches performed by well known Irish actors and comedians, including David McSavage, Declan Rooney, Pat McDonnell, Eleanor Tiernan, Gerard McSorley, Liam Hourican, John Colleary and Dermot McMurrow.
- 11/23/2009
- IFTN
Season Three of the award winning 'The Tudors' will air on TV3 from Tuesday 21st April at 10pm. The third installment of the Ifta winning drama recently premiered Stateside on April 5th to an audience of total of 726,000 viewers and a cumulative figure of 1.3 million with encores and on-demand viewing taken into account. International and Irish cast to join Jonathan Rhys Meyers for Season Three include Max von Sydow (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Henry Cavill (The Count of Monte Cristo), James Frain (Into the Blue), Gerard McSorley (The Constant Gardener), Annabelle Wallis (Body of Lies), singer Joss Stone (Eragon) and Sarah Bolger (In America).
- 4/15/2009
- IFTN
With the 6th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards taking place this Saturday 14th of February, Irish and international guests gather in Dublin to honour Ireland's creative excellence and to celebrate the continued success of the film and television industry here at home. Among the Irish Nominees attending are Brendan Gleeson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Aidan Gillen, Orla Brady, Eileen Walsh, Amy Huberman, Charlene McKenna, Deirdre O'Kane, Ger Ryan, Gerard McSorley, John Kavanagh, Maria Doyle Kennedy, David Herlihy, Hilda Fay and Lesley Conroy. Four of Ireland's rising starlets Saorise Ronan, Sarah Bolger, Jenn Murray and Kelly O'Neill will also attend the 2009 Awards, having received prestigious nominations in the acting categories. Others including Aidan Quinn, John Moore, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Eric Mabius, Fionnula Flanagan, Flora Montgomery, Jenny McAlpine, Steve McQueen and Katie McGrath amongst others. With 900 guests attending the Gala Ifta ceremony, the President of Ireland Mary McAleese...
- 2/12/2009
- IFTN
The Constant Gardener
John le Carre's densely plotted novels, which revolve around espionage, moral corruption and forces of evil at work around the globe, often flounder when transferred to the screen. Plots gets severely truncated and nuances are lost. Filmmakers try to cherry-pick the "cinematic" bits from the stories -- the cloak-and-dagger maneuvers -- but those separate with difficulty from the texture of his characters' lives and the thorough documentation of how rogues, governments and multinational corporations behave.
"The Constant Gardener" is a happy exception. One reason might be the inspired choice of Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated Brazilian director of "City of God", to bring the story to the screen. His impressionistic, guerilla style of filmmaking works surprisingly well in capturing the hypnotic urgency of le Carre's fiction. And his viewpoint is less British and more Third World. There are awkward moments, given the need to rush through a convoluted plot, and the peripheral characters that never fully come alive. But "The Constant Gardener" gets the essence of the story.
With Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz toplining a work of clear passion, the film looks set for late summer counterprogramming as well as a competitive run with upcoming prestige offerings for Oscar nominations. Boxoffice should be steady though well short of blockbuster status.
The film, like the novel, opens with the death of a major character. Tessa Quayle (Weisz), a tireless political activist, is discovered brutally murdered in a remote area in northern Kenya. Her older husband is Justin (Fiennes), an ineffectual career diplomat attached to the British High Command in Nairobi, mostly concerned with tending his flower garden and keeping up appearances.
Initially, he takes the news with the apparent sangfroid of a true Etonian. Indeed it is Justin's associate, Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston), who throws up at the sight of Tessa's mutilated body in the morgue, not Justin. Complicating his reaction is an indication that her murder might be a crime of passion: The Kenyan doctor (Hubert Kounde) with whom she was traveling has disappeared and is the chief suspect.
Justin then makes discoveries that could substantiate rumors of other infidelities by his young wife. But what no one in the community of expats in Nairobi counts on is the fierce love this man still has for the woman he scarcely got to know in their brief marriage.
The story moves in a nonlinear way as Justin turns into a mild-mannered bulldog, seeking an explanation for his wife's death. Then, in flashbacks, he examines more closely who his wife was. In the course of his confrontation with things he previously chose not to see, he draws closer to his wife; he understands her point of view, what mattered to her, and comes to love her even more.
This odyssey pulls him into the shady world of multinational pharmaceuticals or "pharmas" as the drug giants are called. These are organizations with enormous resources and economic power, virtual nations onto themselves, who think nothing about testing new drugs in the impoverished Third World.
Justin's investigation into what might have caused someone to order his wife's murder takes him into a scary and sinister terrain, where one feels no safer in the blazing light of day then in the mysterious dark of the night.
He visits Kibera, the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. In London, the British government confiscates his passport. He travels to Berlin with a fake passport to interview the scared head of a pharma watchdog group. He returns to Kenya to confront those with blood on their hands, then journeys to Sudan, where refugees live in vile conditions. The journey ends at the strangely beautiful site of his wife's murder.
(For all the criticism of the Kenyan government by the book and the film, the same government allowed the film to shoot in that country.)
The major disappointment comes in Justin's encounters with the crooks, thugs, spies, corrupt businessmen and Her Majesty's mendacious civil servants. These are played by such wonderful actors as Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite, Nick Reding and Gerard McSorley. Yet they are all too familiar types. No doubt perfectly accurate types but le Carre -- adapted here by Jeffrey Caine -- is capable of creating characters with greater subtlety and dimension.
What distracts us from such things is Meirelles' arresting style that creates a vivid sense of place. Working again with cinematographer Cesar Charlone, the director overexposes some scenes, producing a kind of white on white. Meanwhile, in the slums and villages, as with the favela in "City of God", are a riot of deeply saturated colors. The camera jumps and tries to focus, as if a documentary film crew were shooting the film. Editor Claire Simpson keeps the story rushing forward as Alberto Iglesias' soft music, containing hints of African rock, pulsates in the background.
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Focus Features
Focus Features presents in association with the U.K. Film Council a Potboiler production in association with Scion Films
Credits:
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Screenwriter: Jeffrey Caine
Based on the novel by: John le Carre
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Executive producers: Gail Egan, Robert Jones, Donald Ranvaud, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman
Director of photography: Cesar Charlone
Production designer: Mark Tildesley
Music: Alberto Iglesias
Costumes: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Editor: Claire Simpson
Cast:
Justin Quayle: Ralph Fiennes
Tessa Quayle: Rachel Weisz
Sandy: Danny Huston
Sir Pellegrin: Bill Nighy
Marcus: Pete Postlethwaite
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 130 minutes...
"The Constant Gardener" is a happy exception. One reason might be the inspired choice of Fernando Meirelles, the Oscar-nominated Brazilian director of "City of God", to bring the story to the screen. His impressionistic, guerilla style of filmmaking works surprisingly well in capturing the hypnotic urgency of le Carre's fiction. And his viewpoint is less British and more Third World. There are awkward moments, given the need to rush through a convoluted plot, and the peripheral characters that never fully come alive. But "The Constant Gardener" gets the essence of the story.
With Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz toplining a work of clear passion, the film looks set for late summer counterprogramming as well as a competitive run with upcoming prestige offerings for Oscar nominations. Boxoffice should be steady though well short of blockbuster status.
The film, like the novel, opens with the death of a major character. Tessa Quayle (Weisz), a tireless political activist, is discovered brutally murdered in a remote area in northern Kenya. Her older husband is Justin (Fiennes), an ineffectual career diplomat attached to the British High Command in Nairobi, mostly concerned with tending his flower garden and keeping up appearances.
Initially, he takes the news with the apparent sangfroid of a true Etonian. Indeed it is Justin's associate, Sandy Woodrow (Danny Huston), who throws up at the sight of Tessa's mutilated body in the morgue, not Justin. Complicating his reaction is an indication that her murder might be a crime of passion: The Kenyan doctor (Hubert Kounde) with whom she was traveling has disappeared and is the chief suspect.
Justin then makes discoveries that could substantiate rumors of other infidelities by his young wife. But what no one in the community of expats in Nairobi counts on is the fierce love this man still has for the woman he scarcely got to know in their brief marriage.
The story moves in a nonlinear way as Justin turns into a mild-mannered bulldog, seeking an explanation for his wife's death. Then, in flashbacks, he examines more closely who his wife was. In the course of his confrontation with things he previously chose not to see, he draws closer to his wife; he understands her point of view, what mattered to her, and comes to love her even more.
This odyssey pulls him into the shady world of multinational pharmaceuticals or "pharmas" as the drug giants are called. These are organizations with enormous resources and economic power, virtual nations onto themselves, who think nothing about testing new drugs in the impoverished Third World.
Justin's investigation into what might have caused someone to order his wife's murder takes him into a scary and sinister terrain, where one feels no safer in the blazing light of day then in the mysterious dark of the night.
He visits Kibera, the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa. In London, the British government confiscates his passport. He travels to Berlin with a fake passport to interview the scared head of a pharma watchdog group. He returns to Kenya to confront those with blood on their hands, then journeys to Sudan, where refugees live in vile conditions. The journey ends at the strangely beautiful site of his wife's murder.
(For all the criticism of the Kenyan government by the book and the film, the same government allowed the film to shoot in that country.)
The major disappointment comes in Justin's encounters with the crooks, thugs, spies, corrupt businessmen and Her Majesty's mendacious civil servants. These are played by such wonderful actors as Bill Nighy, Pete Postlethwaite, Nick Reding and Gerard McSorley. Yet they are all too familiar types. No doubt perfectly accurate types but le Carre -- adapted here by Jeffrey Caine -- is capable of creating characters with greater subtlety and dimension.
What distracts us from such things is Meirelles' arresting style that creates a vivid sense of place. Working again with cinematographer Cesar Charlone, the director overexposes some scenes, producing a kind of white on white. Meanwhile, in the slums and villages, as with the favela in "City of God", are a riot of deeply saturated colors. The camera jumps and tries to focus, as if a documentary film crew were shooting the film. Editor Claire Simpson keeps the story rushing forward as Alberto Iglesias' soft music, containing hints of African rock, pulsates in the background.
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Focus Features
Focus Features presents in association with the U.K. Film Council a Potboiler production in association with Scion Films
Credits:
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Screenwriter: Jeffrey Caine
Based on the novel by: John le Carre
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Executive producers: Gail Egan, Robert Jones, Donald Ranvaud, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman
Director of photography: Cesar Charlone
Production designer: Mark Tildesley
Music: Alberto Iglesias
Costumes: Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Editor: Claire Simpson
Cast:
Justin Quayle: Ralph Fiennes
Tessa Quayle: Rachel Weisz
Sandy: Danny Huston
Sir Pellegrin: Bill Nighy
Marcus: Pete Postlethwaite
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 130 minutes...
- 9/7/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Veronica Guerin
Opens
Friday, Aug. 1
United Kingdom
LONDON -- A luminous performance from Cate Blanchett lies at the heart of Joel Schumacher's impressive drama "Veronica Guerin. While it is a fair bet that she -- and the film -- will get honorable mentions when it comes to awards time, it is equally unlikely that the film will make much of a dent at the boxoffice. It has opened well in Ireland but is not set to be released in the United States until October.
The real-life story of crusading Irish journalist Veronica Guerin made its way to the screen in John Mackenzie's impressive 2000 film "When the Sky Falls", made for Sky Television, which was given a limited theatrical release. That low-budget drama starred Joan Allen as the fictional journalist Sinead Hamilton, though the story was very much that of Guerin.
Schumacher's film is far more glossy than Mackenzie's grittier movie -- his budget was larger -- but the films are similar in that they feature standout performances from two actresses very much at the top of their game. The character of Guerin is a powerful one, and it is easy to see why it would attract top actresses. As a journalist in Dublin in the 1990s, she set out to expose the vicious drug dealers rife in the city. Her obsession led to her murder in 1996.
"Veronica Guerin" covers the last two years of her life. It is refreshingly frank in showing that Guerin's passionate determination to expose Dublin drug dealers also led to her neglecting her family and being accused of seeking self-glory. While the Guerin presented here is clearly a woman driven by a very honest desire to right wrongs, she also is presented as being self-absorbed, reckless and susceptible to manipulation.
In her mission to battle the drug dealers, she is helped -- though often misdirected and manipulated -- by the roguish John "The Coach" Traynor (played with charm by Ciaran Hinds), though her real nemesis is the brutal drug lord Gilligan (Gerard McSorley, who gives a performance of frightening brutality). Faced with beatings and attempted bribery, Guerin remains strident in her mission, with support and balance coming from her mother Bernie (Brenda Fricker).
Schumacher directs with restrained skill, bringing out the passion and brutality of the situations without letting the film slip into melodrama. Schumacher's best work seems to come when he handles dramas with more modest budgets (such as "Tigerland" and "Flawless"), which challenge him and allow his clear intelligence and ability to work well with actors to come through.
Blanchett brings her expected professionalism and ability to the role. Her Irish accent is perfect, and she has the charisma and presence to easily hold center stage. Her character may be flawed, but she remains driven and admirable. Fricker, Hinds and McSorley also deliver powerful performances. Irishman Colin Farrell, a Schumacher regular, makes a brief appearance as the wonderfully named soccer fan Spanky McSpank.
VERONICA GUERIN
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Credits:
Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriters: Carol Doyle, Mary Agnes Donoghue
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Executive producers: Ned Dowd, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson
Director of photography: Brendan Galvin
Production designer: Nathan Crowley
Costume designer: Joan Bergin
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Editor: David Gamble
Cast:
Veronica Guerin: Cate Blanchett
Bernie Guerin: Brenda Fricker
John "The Coach" Traynor: Ciaran Hinds
Terry Fagan: Darragh Kelly
Timmy: Laurence Kinlan
John Gilligan: Gerard McSorley
Spanky McSpank: Colin Farrell
Running time -- 98 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Friday, Aug. 1
United Kingdom
LONDON -- A luminous performance from Cate Blanchett lies at the heart of Joel Schumacher's impressive drama "Veronica Guerin. While it is a fair bet that she -- and the film -- will get honorable mentions when it comes to awards time, it is equally unlikely that the film will make much of a dent at the boxoffice. It has opened well in Ireland but is not set to be released in the United States until October.
The real-life story of crusading Irish journalist Veronica Guerin made its way to the screen in John Mackenzie's impressive 2000 film "When the Sky Falls", made for Sky Television, which was given a limited theatrical release. That low-budget drama starred Joan Allen as the fictional journalist Sinead Hamilton, though the story was very much that of Guerin.
Schumacher's film is far more glossy than Mackenzie's grittier movie -- his budget was larger -- but the films are similar in that they feature standout performances from two actresses very much at the top of their game. The character of Guerin is a powerful one, and it is easy to see why it would attract top actresses. As a journalist in Dublin in the 1990s, she set out to expose the vicious drug dealers rife in the city. Her obsession led to her murder in 1996.
"Veronica Guerin" covers the last two years of her life. It is refreshingly frank in showing that Guerin's passionate determination to expose Dublin drug dealers also led to her neglecting her family and being accused of seeking self-glory. While the Guerin presented here is clearly a woman driven by a very honest desire to right wrongs, she also is presented as being self-absorbed, reckless and susceptible to manipulation.
In her mission to battle the drug dealers, she is helped -- though often misdirected and manipulated -- by the roguish John "The Coach" Traynor (played with charm by Ciaran Hinds), though her real nemesis is the brutal drug lord Gilligan (Gerard McSorley, who gives a performance of frightening brutality). Faced with beatings and attempted bribery, Guerin remains strident in her mission, with support and balance coming from her mother Bernie (Brenda Fricker).
Schumacher directs with restrained skill, bringing out the passion and brutality of the situations without letting the film slip into melodrama. Schumacher's best work seems to come when he handles dramas with more modest budgets (such as "Tigerland" and "Flawless"), which challenge him and allow his clear intelligence and ability to work well with actors to come through.
Blanchett brings her expected professionalism and ability to the role. Her Irish accent is perfect, and she has the charisma and presence to easily hold center stage. Her character may be flawed, but she remains driven and admirable. Fricker, Hinds and McSorley also deliver powerful performances. Irishman Colin Farrell, a Schumacher regular, makes a brief appearance as the wonderfully named soccer fan Spanky McSpank.
VERONICA GUERIN
Buena Vista Pictures
Touchstone Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
Credits:
Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriters: Carol Doyle, Mary Agnes Donoghue
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Executive producers: Ned Dowd, Chad Oman, Mike Stenson
Director of photography: Brendan Galvin
Production designer: Nathan Crowley
Costume designer: Joan Bergin
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Editor: David Gamble
Cast:
Veronica Guerin: Cate Blanchett
Bernie Guerin: Brenda Fricker
John "The Coach" Traynor: Ciaran Hinds
Terry Fagan: Darragh Kelly
Timmy: Laurence Kinlan
John Gilligan: Gerard McSorley
Spanky McSpank: Colin Farrell
Running time -- 98 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/21/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'The Boxer'
The third film in a modern Irish trilogy from Jim Sheridan and Terry George, "The Boxer" joins Sheridan's Oscar-nominated "In the Name of the Father" and George's "Some Mother's Son" as another serious look at troubled Northern Ireland, this time exploring the inner politics of the Irish Republican Army.
Not the stuff of runaway boxoffice but good enough to capture three Golden Globe nominations for best drama, actor and director, the hard-hitting Universal release should connect with its two leads, Daniel Day-Lewis and 1996 Oscar nominee Emily Watson, sparring romantically in dangerous Belfast.
Inspired by the life of Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, Sheridan and co-writer George have assembled the elements of a classic love story amid turmoil. Former IRA member Danny (Day-Lewis) took up boxing in prison and wants to limit his fighting to the ring when released. His old sweetheart Maggie (Watson) married Danny Best's friend, now the one behind bars, but she can't follow her heart.
Maggie has a pro-IRA teenage son (Ciaran Fitzgerald), and her father (Brian Cox) is chief of the local boys, including at least one vicious bloke (Gerard McSorley) who doesn't trust cease-fires and former soldiers like Danny, even when they punish the English legally in sports. In the Barry Fitzgerald/Thomas Mitchell role is Ken Stott as the feisty trainer who dreams of his glory days when he starts working with Danny.
Keeping his gloves on when horrific street battles and bombings are still the reaction of too many to British control of the country, Danny is rebuilding his life. Maggie could be a big part of it, but party rules dictate that wives of prisoners remain faithful, and woe to the daring man who makes a rash move toward one of them.
Danny knows the score, but the two sneak a few meetings. Meanwhile, the uneasy peace is destined to be broken, and the leads are caught up in the viciousness that never seems to end. Throughout, neither Danny nor Maggie is particularly vocal, but the talented actors deftly mix the tragic with the disarmingly playful. Their romance may be muted, but they have strong enough chemistry to keep the film moving, and one comes to dread an unhappy resolution.
What tends to slow down the movie while replaying elements from past works by Sheridan and others are the IRA scenes, where one is expected to sympathize (partially) with hard men in the business of killing innocent people. This time, however, the reason for such harsh measures is hardly introduced. The two sides are small urban armies, with front lines and war meetings in heavily guarded apartment buildings -- a nasty place from which Danny refuses to be driven.
For the terrific boxing scenes, Day-Lewis trained with former featherweight champ McGuigan, and the actor displays a controlled-but-awesome ferocity. The film could have used more such impressive pugilism and less of the usual politically motivated violence, but there's no denying the ending is powerful when brutal justice prevails.
THE BOXER
Universal Pictures
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriters: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Brian Morris
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Costume designer: Joan Bergin
Music: Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Casting: Nuala Moiselle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Danny: Daniel Day-Lewis
Maggie: Emily Watson
Joe Hamill: Brian Cox
Ike Weir: Ken Stott
Harry: Gerard McSorley
Liam: Ciaran Fitzgerald
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Not the stuff of runaway boxoffice but good enough to capture three Golden Globe nominations for best drama, actor and director, the hard-hitting Universal release should connect with its two leads, Daniel Day-Lewis and 1996 Oscar nominee Emily Watson, sparring romantically in dangerous Belfast.
Inspired by the life of Irish boxer Barry McGuigan, Sheridan and co-writer George have assembled the elements of a classic love story amid turmoil. Former IRA member Danny (Day-Lewis) took up boxing in prison and wants to limit his fighting to the ring when released. His old sweetheart Maggie (Watson) married Danny Best's friend, now the one behind bars, but she can't follow her heart.
Maggie has a pro-IRA teenage son (Ciaran Fitzgerald), and her father (Brian Cox) is chief of the local boys, including at least one vicious bloke (Gerard McSorley) who doesn't trust cease-fires and former soldiers like Danny, even when they punish the English legally in sports. In the Barry Fitzgerald/Thomas Mitchell role is Ken Stott as the feisty trainer who dreams of his glory days when he starts working with Danny.
Keeping his gloves on when horrific street battles and bombings are still the reaction of too many to British control of the country, Danny is rebuilding his life. Maggie could be a big part of it, but party rules dictate that wives of prisoners remain faithful, and woe to the daring man who makes a rash move toward one of them.
Danny knows the score, but the two sneak a few meetings. Meanwhile, the uneasy peace is destined to be broken, and the leads are caught up in the viciousness that never seems to end. Throughout, neither Danny nor Maggie is particularly vocal, but the talented actors deftly mix the tragic with the disarmingly playful. Their romance may be muted, but they have strong enough chemistry to keep the film moving, and one comes to dread an unhappy resolution.
What tends to slow down the movie while replaying elements from past works by Sheridan and others are the IRA scenes, where one is expected to sympathize (partially) with hard men in the business of killing innocent people. This time, however, the reason for such harsh measures is hardly introduced. The two sides are small urban armies, with front lines and war meetings in heavily guarded apartment buildings -- a nasty place from which Danny refuses to be driven.
For the terrific boxing scenes, Day-Lewis trained with former featherweight champ McGuigan, and the actor displays a controlled-but-awesome ferocity. The film could have used more such impressive pugilism and less of the usual politically motivated violence, but there's no denying the ending is powerful when brutal justice prevails.
THE BOXER
Universal Pictures
Director: Jim Sheridan
Screenwriters: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Brian Morris
Editor: Gerry Hambling
Costume designer: Joan Bergin
Music: Gavin Friday, Maurice Seezer
Casting: Nuala Moiselle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Danny: Daniel Day-Lewis
Maggie: Emily Watson
Joe Hamill: Brian Cox
Ike Weir: Ken Stott
Harry: Gerard McSorley
Liam: Ciaran Fitzgerald
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/22/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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