A new book published by The Liffey Press and co-edited by Nui Galway academics Sean Crosson and Rod Stoneman, is to be launched on Thursday, 11 June at 11am in the Huston School of Film & Digital Media as part of the American Conference for Irish Studies (Acis) 2009. Sean Crosson is a lecturer on Irish and world cinema with the Huston School of Film & Digital Media at Nui Galway where he is Programme Coordinator of the Ma in Film Studies and Rod Stoneman is the Director of the Huston School of Film & Digital Media and was formerly Chief Executive of The Irish Film Board.
- 6/8/2009
- IFTN
Screened
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Sharing Robert Altman's enviable dexterity with sprawling casts, John Crowley's "Intermission" is technically a film about the quest for love and acceptance among an extended grouping of Dubliners that in practice turns out to be anything but gentle and meditative.
Instead, this bracing blast of creative energy kicks off with an unexpected jolt and keeps ticking away, often flirting with outrageousness without ever losing sight of its main objective.
A respected theater director, Crowley makes the most of Mark O'Rowe's intricate, smartly written script and coaxes terrific performances from all of his 11 principal players (54 in total).
Enthusiastic reviews as well as the presence of the very busy Colin Farrell among the ensemble should result in some decent word-of-mouth coin while easily establishing Crowley and O'Rowe as filmmakers to watch.
One of the first productions to come out of Neil Jordan and Stephen Woolley's newly formed Company of Wolves, "Intermission" is populated by so many colorful characters that it's hard to decide where to begin.
A good start would be Farrell's off-kilter Lehiff, a morally bankrupt punk of a petty thief who is planning the quintessential "one last score" before intending to go straight.
That is, if he can avoid the ever vigilant gaze of tough-guy detective Jerry Lynch (the always memorable Colm Meaney), an overly zealous loner of an anticrime crusader who also happens to have a deep interest in Celtic mysticism.
Meanwhile, supermarket employee John ("28 Days Later"'s Cillian Murphy) has the boneheaded idea of testing his girlfriend Deirdre's ("Trainspotting"'s Kelly Macdonald) devotion by suggesting they break up.
Initially brokenhearted, she rebounds into the arms of the older Sam (Michael McElhatton), a bank manager who is smack dab in the middle of a midlife crisis. Full of understandable hostility, Sam's freshly estranged wife, Noeleen (Deirdre O'Kane), ends up having a rather heated affair with John's lonely buddy Oscar David Wilmot).
Then there's also Deirdre's emotionally scarred sister (Shirley Henderson), who wears the dark hair on her upper lip like a coat of armor, and their concerned widowed mother, Maura (Ger Ryan), not to mention John and Oscar's bullying, American catchphrase-spewing supermarket boss, Mr. Henderson (Owen Roe), and bus driver Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), who is determined to track down the culprit who threw a brick at his bus window, causing a potentially tragic accident.
Armed with playwright O'Rowe's fresh dialogue, the characters are a treat to get to know, but the most intriguing thing about the film is the always inventive way in which their lives intersect.
While director Crowley keeps it all moving propulsively with a contemporary pop/rock song selection that complements the pace and those darkly comedic edges, he still manages to accommodate some vulnerable, touching truths about everyday life in the big, scary world.
Intermission
IFC Films
An IFC Films presentation in association with Company of Wolves and Parallel Films
Credits:
Director: John Crowley
Screenwriter: Mark O'Rowe
Executive producers: Paul Trijbits, Rod Stoneman, Tristan Whalley
Producers: Alan Moloney, Stephen Woolley, Neil Jordan
Director of photography: Ryszard Lenczewski
Production designer: Tom Conroy
Editor: Lucia Zuchetti
Costume designer: Lorna Marie Mugan
Music: John Murphy
Cast:
Lehiff: Colin Farrell
Jerry: Colm Meaney
John: Cillian Murphy
Deirdre: Kelly Macdonald
Sally: Shirley Henderson
Oscar: David Wilmot
Noeleen: Deirdre O'Kane
Sam: Michael McElhatton
Maura: Ger Ryan
Mr. Henderson: Owen Roe
Ben: Tomas O'Sullivan
Karen: Barbara Bergin
Running time -- 106 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- Sharing Robert Altman's enviable dexterity with sprawling casts, John Crowley's "Intermission" is technically a film about the quest for love and acceptance among an extended grouping of Dubliners that in practice turns out to be anything but gentle and meditative.
Instead, this bracing blast of creative energy kicks off with an unexpected jolt and keeps ticking away, often flirting with outrageousness without ever losing sight of its main objective.
A respected theater director, Crowley makes the most of Mark O'Rowe's intricate, smartly written script and coaxes terrific performances from all of his 11 principal players (54 in total).
Enthusiastic reviews as well as the presence of the very busy Colin Farrell among the ensemble should result in some decent word-of-mouth coin while easily establishing Crowley and O'Rowe as filmmakers to watch.
One of the first productions to come out of Neil Jordan and Stephen Woolley's newly formed Company of Wolves, "Intermission" is populated by so many colorful characters that it's hard to decide where to begin.
A good start would be Farrell's off-kilter Lehiff, a morally bankrupt punk of a petty thief who is planning the quintessential "one last score" before intending to go straight.
That is, if he can avoid the ever vigilant gaze of tough-guy detective Jerry Lynch (the always memorable Colm Meaney), an overly zealous loner of an anticrime crusader who also happens to have a deep interest in Celtic mysticism.
Meanwhile, supermarket employee John ("28 Days Later"'s Cillian Murphy) has the boneheaded idea of testing his girlfriend Deirdre's ("Trainspotting"'s Kelly Macdonald) devotion by suggesting they break up.
Initially brokenhearted, she rebounds into the arms of the older Sam (Michael McElhatton), a bank manager who is smack dab in the middle of a midlife crisis. Full of understandable hostility, Sam's freshly estranged wife, Noeleen (Deirdre O'Kane), ends up having a rather heated affair with John's lonely buddy Oscar David Wilmot).
Then there's also Deirdre's emotionally scarred sister (Shirley Henderson), who wears the dark hair on her upper lip like a coat of armor, and their concerned widowed mother, Maura (Ger Ryan), not to mention John and Oscar's bullying, American catchphrase-spewing supermarket boss, Mr. Henderson (Owen Roe), and bus driver Mick (Brian F. O'Byrne), who is determined to track down the culprit who threw a brick at his bus window, causing a potentially tragic accident.
Armed with playwright O'Rowe's fresh dialogue, the characters are a treat to get to know, but the most intriguing thing about the film is the always inventive way in which their lives intersect.
While director Crowley keeps it all moving propulsively with a contemporary pop/rock song selection that complements the pace and those darkly comedic edges, he still manages to accommodate some vulnerable, touching truths about everyday life in the big, scary world.
Intermission
IFC Films
An IFC Films presentation in association with Company of Wolves and Parallel Films
Credits:
Director: John Crowley
Screenwriter: Mark O'Rowe
Executive producers: Paul Trijbits, Rod Stoneman, Tristan Whalley
Producers: Alan Moloney, Stephen Woolley, Neil Jordan
Director of photography: Ryszard Lenczewski
Production designer: Tom Conroy
Editor: Lucia Zuchetti
Costume designer: Lorna Marie Mugan
Music: John Murphy
Cast:
Lehiff: Colin Farrell
Jerry: Colm Meaney
John: Cillian Murphy
Deirdre: Kelly Macdonald
Sally: Shirley Henderson
Oscar: David Wilmot
Noeleen: Deirdre O'Kane
Sam: Michael McElhatton
Maura: Ger Ryan
Mr. Henderson: Owen Roe
Ben: Tomas O'Sullivan
Karen: Barbara Bergin
Running time -- 106 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/23/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
SYDNEY -- Sydney-based film executive Mark Woods has been appointed CEO of the Irish Film Board, effective Oct. 1. He replaces Rod Stoneman, who has taken up a post at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media in Galway. Interim responsibilities before Woods' arrival will be shared by IFB chair Ossie Kilkenny and deputy chair Ann O'Connell. "We are delighted to welcome Mark as our new CEO," Kilkenny said. "His experience in the international arena will prove invaluable in developing the Irish film industry." Said Woods: "Independent film co-financing is my passion, and I feel privileged to accept this post. I look forward to working closely with the board and staff of the IFB and Irish independent producers in nurturing a culturally vibrant and sustainable screen production in my home country."...
While his novels, including "The Commitments" and "The Snapper", have made the page-to-screen transition with a generally high degree of success, Ireland's Roddy Doyle has decided to try an original screenplay on for size, and the resulting "When Brendan Met Trudy" is extremely amusing if admittedly slight entertainment.
The story of a disengaged schoolteacher whose main passions in life are films (as opposed to movies) and singing in the local choir -- that is, until he encounters a spirited lass with a fierce lust for life and a shady vocation -- the picture is populated with the sort of lovable but loopy characters that are a hallmark of Doyle's Barrytown trilogy.
But in the hands of television director Kieron J. Walsh, making his feature debut, the requisite tone -- handled so precisely by Alan Parker ("Commitments") and Stephen Frears ("Snapper") -- bounces all over the place with a frantic eagerness to please.
Attention-deficit difficulties aside, this Shooting Gallery series entry has much to enjoy, particularly the performances of its cast of true characters.
After effectively setting the cinema literate scene with a clever goof on Billy Wilder's "Sunset Blvd.", Doyle and Walsh waste little time in bringing together the deadpan Brendan (Peter McDonald) and the dynamic Trudy (Flora Montgomery).
It would at first seem like an unlikely pairing, and while introverted Brendan's endless "film buffery" starts getting on Trudy's nerves, she's still tickled by the fact that most guys in Dublin wouldn't be caught dead crooning the somber Panis Angelicus in the middle of a crowded pub. With Trudy, meanwhile, a breathless Brendan believes he has found the Jean Seberg to his dormant Jean-Paul Belmondo alter ego.
When it appears that Trudy isn't the Montessori schoolteacher she professes to be, he reluctantly but willingly agrees to go on what will become a wild ride.
Although the character motivations and plot developments aren't always convincing, even minor Doyle still has it over most of the competition. The generous movie references -- also including "The Quiet Man", "Once Upon a Time in the West", "The Searchers", "The Producers" and "The African Queen" -- are a guilty pleasure. And the more up-to-date pop-culture references and quirky personalities -- among them Brendan's casually cussing mother (Marie Mullen) and a stern headmaster (Barry Cassin) who sings the virtues of Iggy Pop -- are responsible for some sparkling satire.
Anchoring it all as best they can are McDonald and, particularly, the spunky Montgomery, who manage to generate a convincing chemistry even when some of the scripting and direction fail to do likewise.
Behind-the-scenes contributions are bright and energetic, with production designer Fiona Daly and costume designer Consolata Boyle making the most of all that film buffery.
WHEN BRENDAN MET TRUDY
Shooting Gallery
Director: Kieron J. Walsh
Producer: Lynda Myles
Executive producers: David M. Thompson, Mike Phillips, Rod Stoneman, Clare Duignan
Screenwriter: Roddy Doyle
Director of photography: Ashley Rowe
Production designer: Fiona Daly
Editor: Scott Thomas
Costume designer: Consolata Boyle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Brendan: Peter McDonald
Trudy: Flora Montgomery
Nuala: Pauline McLynn
Mother: Marie Mullen
Edgar: Maynard Eziashi
Headmaster: Barry Cassin
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The story of a disengaged schoolteacher whose main passions in life are films (as opposed to movies) and singing in the local choir -- that is, until he encounters a spirited lass with a fierce lust for life and a shady vocation -- the picture is populated with the sort of lovable but loopy characters that are a hallmark of Doyle's Barrytown trilogy.
But in the hands of television director Kieron J. Walsh, making his feature debut, the requisite tone -- handled so precisely by Alan Parker ("Commitments") and Stephen Frears ("Snapper") -- bounces all over the place with a frantic eagerness to please.
Attention-deficit difficulties aside, this Shooting Gallery series entry has much to enjoy, particularly the performances of its cast of true characters.
After effectively setting the cinema literate scene with a clever goof on Billy Wilder's "Sunset Blvd.", Doyle and Walsh waste little time in bringing together the deadpan Brendan (Peter McDonald) and the dynamic Trudy (Flora Montgomery).
It would at first seem like an unlikely pairing, and while introverted Brendan's endless "film buffery" starts getting on Trudy's nerves, she's still tickled by the fact that most guys in Dublin wouldn't be caught dead crooning the somber Panis Angelicus in the middle of a crowded pub. With Trudy, meanwhile, a breathless Brendan believes he has found the Jean Seberg to his dormant Jean-Paul Belmondo alter ego.
When it appears that Trudy isn't the Montessori schoolteacher she professes to be, he reluctantly but willingly agrees to go on what will become a wild ride.
Although the character motivations and plot developments aren't always convincing, even minor Doyle still has it over most of the competition. The generous movie references -- also including "The Quiet Man", "Once Upon a Time in the West", "The Searchers", "The Producers" and "The African Queen" -- are a guilty pleasure. And the more up-to-date pop-culture references and quirky personalities -- among them Brendan's casually cussing mother (Marie Mullen) and a stern headmaster (Barry Cassin) who sings the virtues of Iggy Pop -- are responsible for some sparkling satire.
Anchoring it all as best they can are McDonald and, particularly, the spunky Montgomery, who manage to generate a convincing chemistry even when some of the scripting and direction fail to do likewise.
Behind-the-scenes contributions are bright and energetic, with production designer Fiona Daly and costume designer Consolata Boyle making the most of all that film buffery.
WHEN BRENDAN MET TRUDY
Shooting Gallery
Director: Kieron J. Walsh
Producer: Lynda Myles
Executive producers: David M. Thompson, Mike Phillips, Rod Stoneman, Clare Duignan
Screenwriter: Roddy Doyle
Director of photography: Ashley Rowe
Production designer: Fiona Daly
Editor: Scott Thomas
Costume designer: Consolata Boyle
Color/stereo
Cast:
Brendan: Peter McDonald
Trudy: Flora Montgomery
Nuala: Pauline McLynn
Mother: Marie Mullen
Edgar: Maynard Eziashi
Headmaster: Barry Cassin
Running time -- 95 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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