THE UNCLE JACK
FRANKIE STARLIGHT
STRANDED
STRANDED
THE FIFTH PROVINCE
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MOONDANCE
(Dagmar Hirtz, 1995; 92m)
Adapted from the novel The White Hare by Frank Stuart, MOONDANCE is the tale of two oddball brothers (Ian Shaw and Ruaidhri Conroy), strongly bonded by the death of their father and their mother's desertion. Into their nearly pagan existence in an old house set amid the glorious landscapes of western Ireland comes an irresistible Eve, in the form of a German exchange student (Julian Brandler). As the apple of each boy's eye, this sensual young woman propels them into a modern, urban world where their relationship is strained by the hard complexities of adult life. A tough yet tender study of brotherly love, with Marianne Faithfull as errant mother, and haunting music by Van Morrison and Fiachra Trench.
Tues June 1: 1 pm & 5 pm
NY Premiere:
CRUSH PROOF aka HOOLIGANS
Paul Tickell, 1998; 91m
A modernday Rebel without a Cause set in Dublin's vanishing "pony club" subculture that draws power from its culture-shock imagery and appealing cast. Written off by a drunken father and a mother gone lesbian who wants nothing to do with her outlaw son, CRUSH PROOF's rebel ringleader lights out for a green hinterland that gives false promise of an heroic life hearkening back to the days of Irish hero Cuchulain--or Billy the Kid. He and his gang are feral urban kids done in by their own energy, energy that has no use, no place to go. A far cry from disaffected-youth movies such as Rebels of the Neon God or Trainspotting, this Irish "Western" possesses a tough realism laced with moments of unexpected poetry.
Producer Nicholas O'Neill is scheduled to appear at the 8:15 pm show on June 2.
Wed June 2: 1 pm, 4:40 pm & 8:15 pm
NOTHING PERSONAL
Thaddeus O'Sullivan, 1995; 85m
An uncompromising depiction of the cult of sectarian violence...a totally riveting drama rigorously directed by O'Sullivan....-- Variety
In 1975 Belfast, a Loyalist chieftain (Michael Gambon) works to maintain an uneasy truce with the IRA, while zealots and wannabe warriors simmer dangerously. No one who recalls O'Sullivan's uncompromising, broodingly beautiful December Bride will be surprised that there's not a hint of cliché or exploitation in this handsome, harshly moving picture of an environment eternally aflame, where every meetingplace--club, warehouse, street--is a potential tinderbox. No time for love or liking in this ironically titled film; friend destroys friend, and every generation seems doomed to be infected by internecine madness. Adapted by Daniel Mornin from his novel All Our Fault, featuring a superb cast: Ian Hart, John Lynch, James Frain, Gerard McSorley, Ruaidhri Conroy, et al.
Wed June 2: 2:50 pm & 6:30 pm
NY Premiere:
THE UNCLE JACK
John T. Davis, 1996; 80m
Jack was like a second father to me, and when he died, he left everything to me, his house, his inventions, his musical instruments, but most importantly the 8mm camera that was to change my life forever. -- John T. Davis
In this autobiographical film, director Davis (Dust on the Bible) pilots us on a haunting flight through his eccentric Uncle Jack's life and work--which in many ways gave wings to Davis's own imagination and art. The magnificent movie palaces and detailed model airplanes John McBride Neill constructed in the 40s and 50s, his idiosyncrasies, his Northern Ireland home--all are legacies that shaped his filmmaking nephew. Combining archival materials, reminiscences and dramatic reconstruction, Davis weaves a gratifyingly complex poem in praise of outlaw souls and the dangerous and rewarding process of creation.
Tues June 8: 1 pm, 4:45 pm & 8:50 pm
FRANKIE STARLIGHT
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, 1996; 105m
Directed with inspired invention and visual bravura, performed with aching integrity.... A brilliant depiction of the inevitable loss of innocence and the compensations of art.... -- Peter Keogh, Boston Phoenix
Adapted from Chet Raymo's novel The Dork of Cork, FRANKIE STARLIGHT unreels--in flashback--the eventful life story of an endearingly un-cute, all-too-human dwarf (Alan Pentony and Corban Walker). This magical-realist fable (recalling The World According to Garp) wends its way through the amorous adventures of Frankie's psychic mother (Anne Parillaud); a duo of temporary but loving fathers (Gabriel Byrne and Matt Dillon), and Frankie's hardwon discovery of the redeeming power of stargazing, love and art. A tartly charming Oedipal fairy tale about a small person who imagines his way out of an arrested childhood.
Tues June 8: 2:40 pm & 6:45 pm;
Thurs June 10: 2:45 pm
Triple Feature: Short Films
US Premiere:
STRANDED
(Ian Fitzgibbon, 1998; 25m)
Powerful and wry...brought to life by stunning cinematography and an original score-- Image
In the Middle Ages, three Irish monks try for mutual comfort in bleak, empty Iceland, the oldest practicing his masochistic faith and the youngest forgetful of God, dreaming of home. Strikingly photographed, the story of STRANDED is backed by traditional Irish music and Icelandic singers.
with
US Premiere:
BOYS AND MEN
(Seán Hinds, 1996; 40m)
A dark, intensely charged psychological pas de deux between Jack Doyle, a successful nightclub owner, and the man he viciously bullied as a boy--who has abducted Doyle to terrorize him in turn. An underground horror tale--powerfully visualized--with a chilling climax right out of Edgar Allan Poe. Hinds shows the kind of unmistakable gift for filmmaking that makes one look forward to his first feature.
and
US Premiere:
NAVIGATIO: ATLANTEAN II
(Bob Quinn, 1998; 60m)
In this dream-documentary, veteran filmmaker Quinn (The Bishop's Story) tracks down (as director and on-screen private eye) ancestral connections between Connemara song and the music of Scandinavia, the Baltic, Russia, and Tatarstan. More tongue-in-cheek visionary than domesticated documentarian, Quinn spoofs the non-fiction genre, deconstructing conventional scientific mapping in favor of personally sniffing out the imagination's rich spoor. He joyously "proves" that a major river of art and civilization continued to flow around Europe even as that "island" languished through the Dark Ages.
Ben Patton, producer of STRANDED, and Seán Hinds, director of BOYS AND MEN, are scheduled to appear at the 5:15 pm show.
Wed June 9: 1 pm & 5:15 pm
US Premiere:
THE FIFTH PROVINCE
Frank Stapleton, 1997; 89m
A whimsical delight--part homage to Hitchcock, part meditation on the intrinsic relationship between rain and romance. A gentle tale of maudlin absurdity, matricide and the dangers of typing too late into the night. -- Anthony Minghella
Best First Feature, Galway Film Festival 1997
A wild flight of the imagination into a domain of "magic, passion and possibility," the Fifth Province of Ireland. Writer Timmy Sugrue (Bryan O'Byrne) divides his time vacuuming his shabby "bed and breakfast," fending off a madly possessive mom, ogling pretty girls and confessing all to a totally fey shrink (Ian Richardson) whose "office" is a housetrailer in Timmy's front yard. One day Timmy takes off to attend a (wonderfully satirized) conference on screen storytelling, and his life, as they say, changes for good and all. A surreal fantasy that's pointedly and genuinely funny as it confronts issues of identity and individuality (and borrows some nasty bits from Hitchcock's Psycho!)
Frank Stapleton is scheduled to appear at the 7:45 pm show on June 9.
Wed June 9: 3:30 pm & 7:45 pm;
Thurs June 10: 1 pm
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