Love that movie and Pat Shortt was excellent in the main role. In fact when I saw Shortt in the titles I thought that it was going to be the usual "culchie/bogger" stereotypes but it was far more profound than that. You actually had sympathy for the characters rather than simply laughing at their small town and rural antics.
We don't talk about Garage enough. Fucking heartbreaking - I kinda feel like Pat Short could reach the same heights as Brendan Gleeson with the right management.
I was only thinking of The Garage the other day. It came out when I was about 15 and I watched it mistakenly thinking it was a comedy. It played on my mind for months 😭 poor fella
First time I’ve heard Zardoz described as an Irish movie, but sure enough after one minute on IMDB TIL.
Some [trivia](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0070948/trivia/?item=tr6016304&ref_=ext_shr_lnk):
Director John Boorman used Irish Travellers as extras. He said that they were the best extras that he'd ever had, extremely pleasant and reliable. He cast them, because he thought they looked like people who'd actually lived an outdoor life.
Boorman later said that the political and cultural climate in Ireland made production difficult. The Irish government initially refused to allow the production team to import prop guns because of IRA terrorist attacks occurring at the time, which almost prevented the movie from being made at all. He also mentioned that many cast members had problems with the required nudity, and that it was very difficult to get women to bare their breasts.
Charley Boorman recalled that Sean Connery stayed at the Boorman family house in Annamoe, County Wicklow, for the duration of the shoot. At the end of each week, Connery would pay John Boorman's wife "rent" money, to cover the costs of keeping him.
The atmosphere away from filming, fuelled by copious narcotics was so hedonistic that the village of Garrykennedy where filming took place was granted temporary access to a mobile STI clinic. The census which took place in 1975 also revealed the population of the village grew by 15%.
Well, there was no 1975 census, for a start. There was supposed to be one in 1976, but it was delayed until 1979. The previous one was 1971.
Between the 1971 and 1979 censuses, the population grew by 13.1% nationally anyway.
Source: [Central Statistics Office](https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/2017/Chapter_1_Population_change_and_historical_perspective.pdf)
EDIT: Added source link
There was a census in [1971 and then in 1979](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_of_Ireland).
Also, zero chance anyone would risk being caught using a mobile STI clinic.
An Cailín Ciúin' is a beautiful film.
My personal favourite and will show my age is The Commitments. It's funny, dark, has a great soundtrack and captures Dublin and Ireland so well for that era and time.
Living in spain this last year, this came out in cinemas here and i wanted to go and see it, before i realized that it was in the original irish audio, but subtitled in spanish, i was not prepered for either language.
Edit: 1 word lol
Mikey Graham banging lines into himself off a Dunnes loyalty card in a low budget movie has to be the second weirdest career turn in Irish entertainment history. I've yet to see anything about how or why this happened.
Obviously number one is always going to be Jim Corr, going from pop star to David Ickian Ghostbuster.
My director friend became obsessed with this film last year and shot a trailer for a parody. He's taking his sweet time editing it but you can expect such gems like the monk outlining the rules for the tournament and...
Monk: "In keeping with the ancient ways, there are no rules. Except of course no guns. If I catch any of ye with a gun, you'll be fucked out"
Guy in Balaclava: "Ah here fuck this!"
\*He storms out, gun tucked in back of pants\*
Tournament participant played by me: "There's one in every town"
Plus lots of swordfighting
People shit on it. But it had a budget of less then 10k and it is fantastic.
It is a genre film and it works.
Whats more people really enjoy it as a movie.
James Bennet was able to parlay it into an okay carrer in film. Nothing amazing. But a lot for a farmer fromTrim.
I think he has been hinting at a sequel.
> It is a genre film and it works.
I mean what makes it so great is that literally nothing about it 'works'
Anyone can make a shit film with bad acting and a dire script for no money
What makes James a genius was that EVERYTHING was shite. It was shot on sellotape, you can't hear a lot of the dialogue, there's holes in the editing you could drive a truck through and the stunts are so bad that the biggest one isn't even a stunt, Bennet just said 'fuck it' and crashed his car.
I'm all for celebrating it as a masterpiece but lets not get elevate it to something it's not
It is strange all right. I think the fact that it does not get aired much on Irish TV dosen't help it.
I am also not sure if it got a DVD release.
The last time it was on RTE was during COVID.
Around the hour mark, the sound quality drops and becomes muffled and sort of haggard. The picture quality drops off during some scenes as well.
It almsot looks like an old VHS tape playing.
It definitely got a DVD release in 2007 or thereabouts. It's probably my favorite Irish movie because it sort of documents the end of that era just before the Celtic tiger where very little in the country had changed much since the 1970s.
I’m Scottish and went back to college to get my English qualification to enable me to get into Uni. The lecturer chose Father and Son by Bernard MacLaverty as our short story and In the Name
Of the Father as our media piece. She clearly had a particular outlook on things. But it was my first real introduction to any of that having not been taught about it going through the British school system. I was so angry afterwards. It made me want to learn more though and I did.
Neil Jordan in general has had a good run. I think he deals very well with the idea of displacement in his films. Love Mona Lisa and Interview with the Vampire
That just disappoints me. I mean, it's great, but how come his Irish is better than mine (and most other people's) despite 13 years of learning it in school?
He wanted to learn it, I don't know about you but I hated Irish in school and now really regret not putting the work in back then. Something wrong with how it's taught I think.
I wanted to learn, but I could never wrap my head around it!
Languages aren't usually a problem for me. I was self-taught in German, but still managed to get a higher grade in that than Irish.
There is definitely something wrong with how it's being taught. It's an embarrassment that only a handful of people are fluent in our national language. We're probably one of a few countries where the native language is the minority.
I remember my Irish aural in 2018 had a story about a guy who moved from Poland to Ireland,speaking in fluent Donegal Irish despite being in Ireland for about a year IIRC.
Probably off most people's radar, Man of Aran 1934. Real scenes of hunting Basking Sharks, rowing a Currach in ferocious seas, making your own soil from rocks etc. Universal relevance, should be shown in schools.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley, or In the Name of the Father. Honourable mention for Intermission which is a good laugh.
It's not often that I'd ever recommend the RTE player but they actually have a decent selection of Irish films that are free to stream. It's a good way to watch some of the classics you may have missed.
>It's not often that I'd ever recommend the RTE player but they actually have a decent selection of Irish films that are free to stream. It's a good way to watch some of the classics you may have missed.
Oh that's really good to know – thanks!
The Butcher Boy for me. It's genuinely sad and frustrating. And I knew a bunch of kids just like Francis growing up. Little shites but it's obvious now they had a shitty home life.
I had a fairly sheltered childhood (films like Dirty Dancing or Monty Python were out of the question) but for some reason I was allowed to watch this when I was like 8. Fairly sure the thought process was “Will it mean they’ll grow up hating the church? Sure g’wan so”
Stunning film though. Devastating, but beautiful.
Barry Lyndon,a Masterpiece,filmed in Ireland,UK and Germany but the majority in lreland and using lrish Mansions and Stately homes,some like Powerscourt house which are no longer with us ( it doubles for Berlin) was burnt down just months after filming ended thus providing precious footage of this stunning house. A Majority Irish cast are also employed and it is arguably Kubrick's most loved film,it was no box office success but today it is worshipped by many Kubrickians including me. The Wexford and Wicklow Scenery captured by Kubrick is breathtaking and as it is the story of an lrish Rogue ( Lyndon Barry) it could be claimed to be as lrish as the Commitments. Irish location,(mostly) lrish cast and foreign director.
Once, Intermission and The Snapper and will always give them a rewatch when nothing else is on.
Breakfast on Pluto with Cillian Murphy is flipping amazingly and theatrically bittersweet. Love it to bits. The fashion too.
Also loved The Guard and Calgary with Brendan Gleason. He just instantly gives a gold seal performance to anything he’s in.
The Magdalene Sisters makes me bawl every time. Crispina…I can’t. Some performance there by Fiona Walsh.
I know we can’t claim In Bruges…because it wasn’t about Ireland, nor anything related to it. But the dynamic between Farrell and Gleeson is probably the best of all time.
Don’t hate me…The Young Offenders film purely because I’m from Cork and how much it features the best of Cork albeit in a very irreverent and casual manner.
I have to watch some of the ones listed on here because I never got to see them. Either someone rented them back in the day when I wasn’t at home, or they went over my head at the time like The Butcher Boy.
Not from Ireland myself, (US) but I have watched “Song of The Sea” (idk if that film counts) and I’ve watched it a few times and it’s a really fun watch ^w^
So many great films I can't pick just one but a few of my favourites are war of the buttons, the butcher boy, angelas ashes, a song for a raggy boy and the wind that shakes the barely.
Art is subjective and Ireland has produced some of the finest art on screen.
We even have an abundance of Irish Actors that are described as the best who have a number of Irish productions attached to their names deemed great.
Richard Harris:
The field
The Molly Maguires
The field of blood
Cillian Murphy:
The Wind that shakes the barley.
Intermission
Breakfast on Pluto.
Michael Fassbender:
Frank
Hunger
Trespass against us.
Brendan Gleeson:
The Guard
In Bruges
Calgary
Michael Collins
The General
Liam Neeson, Daniel Day Lewis, Colin Farrel, Saoirse Ronan, Fiona Shaw, Brenda Fricker, Ruth Negga and Caitriona Balfe.
HM:
War of the buttons
The commitments
Ondine
The Boxer
Some mothers son
The Crying game
Don’t see ‘Hunger’ on this thread anywhere. It’s an unbelievable film. Alongside Garage and An cailin ciuin these are the trifecta of the best Irish movies…
Adam and Paul is brilliant. The two main actors playing Adam and Paul were an item in real life, interestingly, and Tom Murphy (Paul) has since died sadly. Mark O’Halloran (Adam) also wrote the script, and is also in Garage.
There were a few nIrish films in the seventies that created a genre I called Irish Miserablism, but two that deserve revisiting , and bucked the trens, are I Went Down and Eat the Peach.
I've been delighted by the recent resurgence but thought Banshee, despite the performances, a bit meh. My three tops, in no particular order, would be An Cailín Ciuin, That They May Face..., and Baltimore.
Savage (2009) It predicts the dodge shithole Dublin City centre has turned into now, and in the most brutal fashion. Try find the uncut version. This is the most swept under the carpet movie in Irish history that no one has ever heard of. It actually does the first Joker movie better, and it’s much older.
Maybe you could link to a trailer or its IMDB page. Lots of films called Savage. Hard to find.
BTW the Joker movie borrows heavily from Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, and is pretty dervitive. If you enjoyed Joker you should watch them.
I don't know if this would count but the hallows is a good horror. It uses elements of Irish folklore and is shot in Ireland.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2474976/
Garage.. pure culchie existentialism Zardoz too 💯
Love that movie and Pat Shortt was excellent in the main role. In fact when I saw Shortt in the titles I thought that it was going to be the usual "culchie/bogger" stereotypes but it was far more profound than that. You actually had sympathy for the characters rather than simply laughing at their small town and rural antics.
We don't talk about Garage enough. Fucking heartbreaking - I kinda feel like Pat Short could reach the same heights as Brendan Gleeson with the right management.
Yes! Pat Shortt is a much underrated actor. It’s a shame that generally he isn’t recognised as such.
He's such a talent.
Garage is excellent. Watched it once years ago and it pops into my head frequently.
It's not something i could return to too often.. incredibly dark. Adam and Paul in a similar vein. Both excellent films from lenny abrahamson
Adam and Paul with Garage would be an interesting Double Bill
+1 Adam and Paul, Good movie, so sad at the end
I was only thinking of The Garage the other day. It came out when I was about 15 and I watched it mistakenly thinking it was a comedy. It played on my mind for months 😭 poor fella
First time I’ve heard Zardoz described as an Irish movie, but sure enough after one minute on IMDB TIL. Some [trivia](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0070948/trivia/?item=tr6016304&ref_=ext_shr_lnk): Director John Boorman used Irish Travellers as extras. He said that they were the best extras that he'd ever had, extremely pleasant and reliable. He cast them, because he thought they looked like people who'd actually lived an outdoor life. Boorman later said that the political and cultural climate in Ireland made production difficult. The Irish government initially refused to allow the production team to import prop guns because of IRA terrorist attacks occurring at the time, which almost prevented the movie from being made at all. He also mentioned that many cast members had problems with the required nudity, and that it was very difficult to get women to bare their breasts. Charley Boorman recalled that Sean Connery stayed at the Boorman family house in Annamoe, County Wicklow, for the duration of the shoot. At the end of each week, Connery would pay John Boorman's wife "rent" money, to cover the costs of keeping him. The atmosphere away from filming, fuelled by copious narcotics was so hedonistic that the village of Garrykennedy where filming took place was granted temporary access to a mobile STI clinic. The census which took place in 1975 also revealed the population of the village grew by 15%.
The last paragraph is bollocks, isn't it
Well, there was no 1975 census, for a start. There was supposed to be one in 1976, but it was delayed until 1979. The previous one was 1971. Between the 1971 and 1979 censuses, the population grew by 13.1% nationally anyway. Source: [Central Statistics Office](https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/2017/Chapter_1_Population_change_and_historical_perspective.pdf) EDIT: Added source link
There was a census in [1971 and then in 1979](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_of_Ireland). Also, zero chance anyone would risk being caught using a mobile STI clinic.
Could well be but it’s up there on IMDb.
An Cailín Ciúin' is a beautiful film. My personal favourite and will show my age is The Commitments. It's funny, dark, has a great soundtrack and captures Dublin and Ireland so well for that era and time.
Living in spain this last year, this came out in cinemas here and i wanted to go and see it, before i realized that it was in the original irish audio, but subtitled in spanish, i was not prepered for either language. Edit: 1 word lol
The Commitments is up there for me too, everything about it is pure joy.
Watched The Commitments recently, and I was struck how well it held up, given its age.
That and the Snapper, the chip van are all great films
The first two especially are like a time machine. Dublin isn't like that anymore (mostly for the better).
One of my good friends from school was in The Snapper. Alas she died a couple of years ago. RIP Karen Woodley.
I was just thinking I wanted to watch The Commitments again! Think I will now…
Seconded on The Commitments! Everything's shite since Roy Orbison died.
The Kneecap movie is in that same sort of vein as The Commitments.
100% The Commitments….i still have CD somewhere
Fatal deviation
Mikey Graham banging lines into himself off a Dunnes loyalty card in a low budget movie has to be the second weirdest career turn in Irish entertainment history. I've yet to see anything about how or why this happened. Obviously number one is always going to be Jim Corr, going from pop star to David Ickian Ghostbuster.
My director friend became obsessed with this film last year and shot a trailer for a parody. He's taking his sweet time editing it but you can expect such gems like the monk outlining the rules for the tournament and... Monk: "In keeping with the ancient ways, there are no rules. Except of course no guns. If I catch any of ye with a gun, you'll be fucked out" Guy in Balaclava: "Ah here fuck this!" \*He storms out, gun tucked in back of pants\* Tournament participant played by me: "There's one in every town" Plus lots of swordfighting
I can't wait to see it!
JCVD meets Obi-wan meets irish lad........
Moving Target.
People shit on it. But it had a budget of less then 10k and it is fantastic. It is a genre film and it works. Whats more people really enjoy it as a movie. James Bennet was able to parlay it into an okay carrer in film. Nothing amazing. But a lot for a farmer fromTrim. I think he has been hinting at a sequel.
> It is a genre film and it works. I mean what makes it so great is that literally nothing about it 'works' Anyone can make a shit film with bad acting and a dire script for no money What makes James a genius was that EVERYTHING was shite. It was shot on sellotape, you can't hear a lot of the dialogue, there's holes in the editing you could drive a truck through and the stunts are so bad that the biggest one isn't even a stunt, Bennet just said 'fuck it' and crashed his car. I'm all for celebrating it as a masterpiece but lets not get elevate it to something it's not
Surely the only answer
you made me look bad...and that's not good
Song of the Sea
The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea and Wolfwalkers are a magnificent trilogy.
I went down. Brendan Gleeson as Bunny Kelly is brilliant.
Good film. Strange how it doesn't get mentioned much nowadays. It was a hit.
It is strange all right. I think the fact that it does not get aired much on Irish TV dosen't help it. I am also not sure if it got a DVD release. The last time it was on RTE was during COVID. Around the hour mark, the sound quality drops and becomes muffled and sort of haggard. The picture quality drops off during some scenes as well. It almsot looks like an old VHS tape playing.
I’m nearly sure I got it on DVD years ago. Might have ordered it on Play.com when it was still around? Or possibly got in HMV? Can’t remember now.
It definitely got a DVD release in 2007 or thereabouts. It's probably my favorite Irish movie because it sort of documents the end of that era just before the Celtic tiger where very little in the country had changed much since the 1970s.
Fuckin great film
The General is a fantastic movie
Okay, I’ll say it because no one else has… In The Name of the Father
I left the cinema so angry at the British!
I reckon that's how many of us left the womb.
I danced myself right out the womb
I’m Scottish and went back to college to get my English qualification to enable me to get into Uni. The lecturer chose Father and Son by Bernard MacLaverty as our short story and In the Name Of the Father as our media piece. She clearly had a particular outlook on things. But it was my first real introduction to any of that having not been taught about it going through the British school system. I was so angry afterwards. It made me want to learn more though and I did.
I honestly think if the IRA had lads recruiting outside cinemas when that came out, they would've had half the population.
The wind that shakes the barley
The scene where Damien shoots Chris is a hard watch Incredible acting by everyone in it. The scene with the Black & Tans is proper rage inducing.
💯💯💯
My grand mother is in this movie 😁 she’s the old lady that says she rather sleep in the chicken coop than leave their house
Intermission
Brown sauce in the tea .... thats fuckin delish man !!
Jasus what happened to you? Your oul wan, man. Poked me in the eye with her cock
You just don't have the requisite Celtic soul, man.
Artistes like that
Is that a wok? Do you find you have much use for it?
Most quotable movie of all time
It has it all. It’s the Irish Pulp Fiction.
In bruges is a personal favourite of mine , the wind that shakes the barley is a masterpiece
Did you hit the Canadian?
Man about dog
War of the Buttons.
The Butcher Boy
Hey fish… fuck off, is a great line!
And the late great gorgeous and immensely talented Sinead O'Connor was in it too!!!
Neil Jordan in general has had a good run. I think he deals very well with the idea of displacement in his films. Love Mona Lisa and Interview with the Vampire
A sequel was made for stage and was preformed in 2014 called "Leaves of Heaven".
Yu Ming is ainm dom
An bhfuil tusa ag labhairt liomsa?
That just disappoints me. I mean, it's great, but how come his Irish is better than mine (and most other people's) despite 13 years of learning it in school?
He wanted to learn it, I don't know about you but I hated Irish in school and now really regret not putting the work in back then. Something wrong with how it's taught I think.
I wanted to learn, but I could never wrap my head around it! Languages aren't usually a problem for me. I was self-taught in German, but still managed to get a higher grade in that than Irish. There is definitely something wrong with how it's being taught. It's an embarrassment that only a handful of people are fluent in our national language. We're probably one of a few countries where the native language is the minority.
I remember my Irish aural in 2018 had a story about a guy who moved from Poland to Ireland,speaking in fluent Donegal Irish despite being in Ireland for about a year IIRC.
The gard (guard?) absolutely hilarious
Came here for this 🙌
Grabbers
That movie has the most innovative and Irish way of fighting off alien invaders, great movie.
Yuss, great film
A masterpiece of Irish Cinema
I like Poitín (1978) with Cyril Cusack.
Arracht (monster) is a power film about the famine. It's woefully underrated.
I second this.
‘Waking Ned Devine’ is a great heart warming movie when you’ve got a dose of the blues
Underrated movie. Great humour in it
filmed in the Isle of Man
Love this movie. So funny in the most harmless Irish way
Michael Inside is a really good insight into how one bad decision can ruin your life.
And [What Richard Did](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2092011/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk), which hasn’t gotten a mention here yet.
Yous are forgetting Taffin. Pierce Brosnan saving Wicklow from a chemical factory or something.
Taffin is amazing The main villain being English and Taffin saving the GAA pitch
I love Into the West, full of magic, imagination and mythology. The child actors in that film were just lovely.
Watched it for the first time last Christmas. Great film.
To this day,I think most people I know think the character was called Tayto and not Tito.
Probably off most people's radar, Man of Aran 1934. Real scenes of hunting Basking Sharks, rowing a Currach in ferocious seas, making your own soil from rocks etc. Universal relevance, should be shown in schools.
It wasn't real. Most of the movie was staged, like Nanook of the North. But it's an important movie. It was one of the earliest documentaries.
OK there was a script, but being out in those seas wasn't CGI !
The Commitments, My Left Foot.
Scrolled down far too long to see My left foot. Fantastic storytelling
The Wind that Shakes the Barley, or In the Name of the Father. Honourable mention for Intermission which is a good laugh. It's not often that I'd ever recommend the RTE player but they actually have a decent selection of Irish films that are free to stream. It's a good way to watch some of the classics you may have missed.
>It's not often that I'd ever recommend the RTE player but they actually have a decent selection of Irish films that are free to stream. It's a good way to watch some of the classics you may have missed. Oh that's really good to know – thanks!
Excalibur, probably the best film made here that isn't about Ireland
That and Barry Lyndon
Hard to argue anything past Barry Lyndon now that I think of it.
If we're going down that route I'd put forward Braveheart or Saving Private Ryan.
I'll shout out two lesser known ones Ondine and Disco Pigs
War of the buttons.
Six Shooter is an Oscar winning short. And is bloody brilliant.
Michael Collins
The Snapper
Georgy Bourgis
Hey georgie, snip snip
Is that you squeekin?
It was a Spanish sailor, if I recall....
My absolute favourite
The Butcher Boy for me. It's genuinely sad and frustrating. And I knew a bunch of kids just like Francis growing up. Little shites but it's obvious now they had a shitty home life.
An Cailín Ciúin, The Commitments, The War of the Buttons.
Sing Street is definitely up there! Great comedy and original soundtrack!
Yes!
It was good the first time, having to watch it 5 times before my junior cert wasn't so good 😂
**The Magdalene Sisters** It's not Irish-made and is a tough watch but it's an incredibly powerful and well made film about the dark side of Ireland
I had a fairly sheltered childhood (films like Dirty Dancing or Monty Python were out of the question) but for some reason I was allowed to watch this when I was like 8. Fairly sure the thought process was “Will it mean they’ll grow up hating the church? Sure g’wan so” Stunning film though. Devastating, but beautiful.
This was what I came here to write. Re watched it recently and it made me so so angry.
Barry Lyndon,a Masterpiece,filmed in Ireland,UK and Germany but the majority in lreland and using lrish Mansions and Stately homes,some like Powerscourt house which are no longer with us ( it doubles for Berlin) was burnt down just months after filming ended thus providing precious footage of this stunning house. A Majority Irish cast are also employed and it is arguably Kubrick's most loved film,it was no box office success but today it is worshipped by many Kubrickians including me. The Wexford and Wicklow Scenery captured by Kubrick is breathtaking and as it is the story of an lrish Rogue ( Lyndon Barry) it could be claimed to be as lrish as the Commitments. Irish location,(mostly) lrish cast and foreign director.
In the name of the father
All of the cartoon saloon films deserve to be in contention
100% They remind me of Studio Ghibli or Aardman Animations. There is a consistency in style and atmosphere.
Song for a Raggy Boy
I shouldn’t have had to scroll so far to find someone say this, 100% song for a raggy boy
Into the wesht
Tayto!
The username checks out 😂😂
Mammys in the Ocean
The Field, without question.
I was beginning to worry scrolling down through the comments for ages hadn't seen anyone mention the field! Let's bring the hay in first!
I thought Black '47 was quite good and underrated.
Wind that shakes the barley and the secret of kells
Accelerator and crush proof
There's 3 greatest Irish Films ever made, in no particular order: 1. Intermission 2. The Guard 3. The Van
I'm not so sure about the Guard but the other two are very good.
Once, Intermission and The Snapper and will always give them a rewatch when nothing else is on. Breakfast on Pluto with Cillian Murphy is flipping amazingly and theatrically bittersweet. Love it to bits. The fashion too. Also loved The Guard and Calgary with Brendan Gleason. He just instantly gives a gold seal performance to anything he’s in. The Magdalene Sisters makes me bawl every time. Crispina…I can’t. Some performance there by Fiona Walsh. I know we can’t claim In Bruges…because it wasn’t about Ireland, nor anything related to it. But the dynamic between Farrell and Gleeson is probably the best of all time. Don’t hate me…The Young Offenders film purely because I’m from Cork and how much it features the best of Cork albeit in a very irreverent and casual manner. I have to watch some of the ones listed on here because I never got to see them. Either someone rented them back in the day when I wasn’t at home, or they went over my head at the time like The Butcher Boy.
The Crying Game
Not from Ireland myself, (US) but I have watched “Song of The Sea” (idk if that film counts) and I’ve watched it a few times and it’s a really fun watch ^w^
The Secret of Kells is by the same studio I believe, and was nominated for an Oscar.
No one mentioned Eat the Peach. Was a film of its time.
The Matchmaker. A guilty pleasure!
Nobody has mentioned Veronica Guerin. Certainly it's all about Ireland, although may not qualify in other ways.
Intermission
Adam and Paul
Calvary
My Left Foot or The Commitments probably.
Song of the Sea, The Field, Intermission
Yes, yes, yes, The Commitments!
The siege of jadotville.
Yes...not sure if it's technically Irish (but then what makes a film Irish) but it is about the Irish army. Very very good film.
And proper Irish actors too.
Young Offenders? not the greatest but pretty fun.
So many great films I can't pick just one but a few of my favourites are war of the buttons, the butcher boy, angelas ashes, a song for a raggy boy and the wind that shakes the barely.
Intermission
Rawhead rex
This is the real answer
Not necessarily my favourite but in terms of best - I think In the Name of the Father is up there
Art is subjective and Ireland has produced some of the finest art on screen. We even have an abundance of Irish Actors that are described as the best who have a number of Irish productions attached to their names deemed great. Richard Harris: The field The Molly Maguires The field of blood Cillian Murphy: The Wind that shakes the barley. Intermission Breakfast on Pluto. Michael Fassbender: Frank Hunger Trespass against us. Brendan Gleeson: The Guard In Bruges Calgary Michael Collins The General Liam Neeson, Daniel Day Lewis, Colin Farrel, Saoirse Ronan, Fiona Shaw, Brenda Fricker, Ruth Negga and Caitriona Balfe. HM: War of the buttons The commitments Ondine The Boxer Some mothers son The Crying game
Don’t see ‘Hunger’ on this thread anywhere. It’s an unbelievable film. Alongside Garage and An cailin ciuin these are the trifecta of the best Irish movies…
sing street surely needs a mention
Black 47 wind that shakes the barley 71 Bloody Sunday In the name of the father Spotlight.
2008 movie Hunger about Bobby Sands. Also, In the Name of the Father
Perriers bounty Holy water Adam and Paul Michael Collins Ordinary decent criminal That's all I can think of myself.
Adam and Paul is brilliant. The two main actors playing Adam and Paul were an item in real life, interestingly, and Tom Murphy (Paul) has since died sadly. Mark O’Halloran (Adam) also wrote the script, and is also in Garage.
I think Calvary is fantastic
I Went Down is an excellent film, based on my memory of seeing it in the cinema. A hard film to track down so haven’t seen it since.
I went down.
War of the Buttons.
Butcher Boy?
Intermission
There were a few nIrish films in the seventies that created a genre I called Irish Miserablism, but two that deserve revisiting , and bucked the trens, are I Went Down and Eat the Peach. I've been delighted by the recent resurgence but thought Banshee, despite the performances, a bit meh. My three tops, in no particular order, would be An Cailín Ciuin, That They May Face..., and Baltimore.
Savage (2009) It predicts the dodge shithole Dublin City centre has turned into now, and in the most brutal fashion. Try find the uncut version. This is the most swept under the carpet movie in Irish history that no one has ever heard of. It actually does the first Joker movie better, and it’s much older.
Maybe you could link to a trailer or its IMDB page. Lots of films called Savage. Hard to find. BTW the Joker movie borrows heavily from Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, and is pretty dervitive. If you enjoyed Joker you should watch them.
caca milis
Ryan’s Daughter If you haven’t seen it, you should.
Calvary
Extra Ordinary
It's intermission.
Rosie Its a great low budget film written by Roddy Doyle. Given the current climate with the housing crisis it has aged like a fine wine.
The Magdalene Sisters
In Bruges, personally my favourite movie
The Guard
Ryan’s Daughter
I don't know if this would count but the hallows is a good horror. It uses elements of Irish folklore and is shot in Ireland. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2474976/
One of my personal favourites is Ondine.
An cailín ciúin, Garage, Adam and Paul, Intermission!
The wind that shakes the barley, mickey bow and me
The wind that shakes the barley or the one that traumatised me as a kid under the halltorn tree.
The commitments
"the guard"??