PeachHamBeach
This is one of the most unusual comedy-dramas I've seen in recent years. It seemed to have a simple and no-frills premise, and then I learned it's because the film is based on a Chinese story. Harry Maloney (Colm Meaney, always a wonderful presence) is a widowed farmer who grows cabbages. One of his sons died sometime back, and then the wife died. All that remain to him are his little cabbage farm, a dreary house and an astonishingly beautiful yet socially awkward son, Gus (Cillian Murphy). One day at the local pub, as the entire town celebrates the recent birth of a baby, Gus falls in love at first sight with a new girl in town, Eileen (Kerry Condon).All of life's blows have left Harry a hard, soured, downright crazed man, and Gus usually gets the worst of Harry's daily tantrums. Harry isn't physically abusive, but he is distant, cold, shrill and often emotionally domineering, and Gus is submissive, alienated and lonely. With his own agenda in mind, and believing it will be a cure-all for Gus, Harry arranges a marriage between Gus and Eileen. Unfortunately, Harry had to ask the cooperation of Eileen's boss, George O'Flahtery (Adrian Dunbar) a man, for reasons unknown, is Harry's sworn enemy. They are only too happy to profess their hatred for each other in words, and later, in pranks.The main plot is how Harry strives time and again to knock his enemy down. Every time something comes up, Harry sees it as an opportunity to "get" George, but always, something spoils the effect. Harry becomes crazier and more irrational every day, making life unbearable for Gus and Eileen, who, because of Harry's effect on Gus, are having their own marital struggles. It's a very interesting, an unfortunately for me, familiar character study of how one family member can drive the others into their graves with his insanity. Harry's life is so empty and meaningless, his obsession for revenge so huge, his personality so unpleasant, that it's impossible to like him...almost (Meaney is just too delightfully demented!). His effect on his son Gus is very interesting: Gus is so intimidated by his father that he can barely function. The Gus character is described by some as "dim" but I didn't see any mental deficits. I saw a kid who is trying to survive living with an extremely intolerable father, not knowing how to deal. Once Gus is married though, he begins to display surprising strength when he defends his wife against Harry's vicious tactics.I think any fan of Colm Meaney or Cillian Murphy would love this very unusual dark and charming film!
Aristides-2
Perhaps the problem with this movie is the fact that the director is a Serbian filmmaker. Or that the co-writer is his wife. It could be that his Balkan background was ill equipped to adapt a Chinese story to a 1920's Irish village. (Maybe the multi-national money people behind this project insisted on using Ireland.) Whatever the reason, when you name your leading character "Meaney", portray virtually all the characters in a realistic style and then have the main character turn into a tree, then you've got a melange that sinks under the woven strands of too many stylistic ideas. I would also like to comment on the cinematographer's lighting (though ultimately the director has to o.k. the look when he sees the dailies.) Disclaimer: I worked as a lighting technician in the mainstream U.S. film industry for 25 years. Most of the time when movies are transferred from film/digital to DVD, the bottom line is to do it as cheaply as one can. One really can't fairly comment on good lighting or bad lighting because of this (this cheap approach also heavily impacts sound transfer). But in this film the aesthetic behind many of the interior scenes was that of a hack; let's bash the light in and shoot it. There's way too much "flat" lighting. That is, no contrast in the light on faces or objects EVEN THOUGH THE LIGHT SOURCES LEND THEMSELVES TO GREAT POTENTIAL LIGHTING; lighting that could help further the story.Good performances don't make it when they are serving a poor story in a technically flawed movie.
neadar
Well the main reason for seeing this movie would be to see Colm Meaney at his best. During the 1st 10 minutes of this film I was quite irritated by what I thought was another shamrockery and begorrah script. But once you get past that, its a very well acted, well-shot film. The humour was very dark though. Some in the audience were laughing while I felt like crying. I suppose the humour is open to your own interpretation. Overall a very sad story though.
