You can't choose family.
A teenage boy (Angarano) longs to win the attention of his emotionally distant father.
Genre(s): Drama
Runtime: 95 minutes
Rating: 7.1/10 (1,224 votes)
Release Date: 20 April 2007
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Creanspeak Funding
Sound: Dolby Digital
MPAA: Rated R for some language and brief violence.
Director(s): Brad Gann
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Producer(s):
Geraldine Crean - executive producer
Kelly Crean - producer
Shahen Derderian - executive producer
Benjamin C. Dewey - line producer
Mark Donadio - producer
Gwen Field - executive producer
Sayda Foell - associate producer
Jon H. Freis - co-executive producer
Brad Gann - producer
J. Todd Harris - producer
Frederick Johntz - associate producer
Barry Levy - executive producer
Gal Lipkin - executive producer
Miriam Marcus - executive producer
Laray Mayfield - associate producer
Jeffrey Orenstein - producer
Marc Toberoff - executive producer
Writer(s):
Brad Gann - (written by)
Cast:
Michael Angarano - Cole McKay
Brendan Gleeson - Desmond McKay
Tom Guiry - Terry McKay
Melissa Leo - Margaret McKay
Emily VanCamp - Kathleen McKay
Michael Rispoli - Joey
Finn Curtin - Coach
Ken Arpino - Valet
Wilson Better - Graves
Francis Capra - Anthony
Music: John Frizzell
Geraldine Crean - executive producer
Kelly Crean - producer
Shahen Derderian - executive producer
Benjamin C. Dewey - line producer
Mark Donadio - producer
Gwen Field - executive producer
Sayda Foell - associate producer
Jon H. Freis - co-executive producer
Brad Gann - producer
J. Todd Harris - producer
Frederick Johntz - associate producer
Barry Levy - executive producer
Gal Lipkin - executive producer
Miriam Marcus - executive producer
Laray Mayfield - associate producer
Jeffrey Orenstein - producer
Marc Toberoff - executive producer
Writer(s):
Brad Gann - (written by)
Cast:
Michael Angarano - Cole McKay
Brendan Gleeson - Desmond McKay
Tom Guiry - Terry McKay
Melissa Leo - Margaret McKay
Emily VanCamp - Kathleen McKay
Michael Rispoli - Joey
Finn Curtin - Coach
Ken Arpino - Valet
Wilson Better - Graves
Francis Capra - Anthony
Music: John Frizzell
Posted on: February 24, 2008
Posted in: Drama
January 17th, 2008
Black Irish is a view on the lives of a family over a period of somemonths. They struggle with each other over recognition, understanding,love, but always seem to fail. It could be any family, anywhere, withsome bad luck. I wanted to give it a 10, but i rate too many 1's and10's and so i try to think of reasons for deduction when i findsomething really good. So i came up with that this one deserves a 9because there is no 'obvious' moralistic lesson in it. Then again,moral is subjective, so passing on this maybe i should give it extracredit, but i cant give an 11. Its just a family with bad luck.
The acting of the non-celebrities is great, the story takes you intotheir lives, their hurt and leaves you wondering of your own family andall that ever happened.
What is great about this one is that we are used to pick a bad guy, orwoman, that you can put all the blame on. Hollywood usually helpssteering you in doing so, but this time not. And that is more real thanthe designated bad man. One moment you think its the father being thebad man, then the mother, then the brother, or sister, but in the endthey all do their little thing and just have or had bad luck. There isno bad man. No one is really to blame.
And that is pretty insightful, yet difficult to understand, so i don'tthink a young audience would appreciate this movie. Its not a movie youwalk away from with a smile on your face. Hence the title…
Go see it.
January 18th, 2008
If you want a traditional story, with a main conflict, a villain, ahero, and a resolution, you may not enjoy this movie. But as anindependent coming-of-age movie, I found it to be excellent.
The characters all demonstrate great depth, as other reviews have said.The acting is wonderful. This movie captures life – growing up – insouth Boston. There is pregnancy. There is cancer. There is baseball.There is theft. But the movie is not about any one of those things. Itis about humanity and living.
Other movies this year have done a better job in building tension.Other movies have been funnier. Other movies have included morecommentary – a better moral – about human life. But no movie hascaptured the essential roller coaster of life better than this movie.
The twists, while not as shocking as others, are more real. The sadnessof the movie comes in part from your familiarity with the situations. Ihighly recommend this movie and I hope you choose to watch it and enjoyit.
January 19th, 2008
This Boston Irish-American flavored coming-of-age film is extremelytypical of any other film of it's type complete with alcoholic father,doting over-bearing mother, fighting siblings, a family in disarray,and so on and so forth. You've likely seen something like it in somevariation a million times before. What sets it a tad above films of thesame ilk is very commendable performances by Micheal Angarano as Coleand especially Brendan Gleeson as his father, Desmond (the latter issimply riveting) Will this film revolutionize coming of age flicks inany way? no, not at all, but it's a well enough told tale well actedenough to be worth a watch.
My Grade: C+
Region 1 DVD Extras: audio Commentary; a 36 minute behind the scenesfeaturette; and trailers for "Razor Eaters" & "Antonia"
January 27th, 2008
Usually I never comment. This movie makes me share coupla thoughts. Dayby day we go to theaters to watch another multi-million dollarHollywood production staring big shot names, breath-taking stunts,cutting-edge CGI and all that entertaining stuff. Black Irish has nobudget (estimated $3 mln production budget is not even enough for amodest PR campaign). Neither does it big names. The movie captures youfrom the very beginning never let you go till the final credits. It’spretty simple story, no big surprises, no plot twists – straightforward. The first faces I’ve seen on the screen I started right awayreminiscing the next door guys I grew up with. They were prettyordinary with same kinda problems in school, in family, out on thestreet. Some of them ended up not very well, others had a dream thatkept’ em afoot. Sometimes it’s very good to get a post card to knowwhere are you from. Black Irish let me take a look at those people Iused to be very close to – the people I’ll never see in my life again.If you wanna see a real life “as is” not another glossy Hollywoodpicture or life TV show I strongly suggest you to watch it. Among otherthings you’ll enjoy the cast. Acting is very strong, characters arecredible. This story could take place anywhere even in youneighborhood.
February 2nd, 2008
This is a spectacularly well-paced and original drama with someincredible acting on both Angarano's and Guiry's parts. Someinteresting cinematic techniques from time to time enhance theremarkable story-telling in this dark coming of age story. The bits ofhumor also help pull you in to a surprisingly authentic South Bostonscenario. With a terrific and spirited cameo by Kevin O'Donnell,alongside a refreshing cast, the characters really outshine thestereotypes right down to the shrimp-stealing busboy. Great sets, asolid and occasionally edgy soundtrack, but what's most impressive isthe strong story, which rescues you from the brink of a cliché' timeand again. I happened to rent this just on word-of-mouth and can't stopreflecting on some of those haunting scenes. Think of this as a grittyGood Will Hunting with a lot more 'street cred'…and heart.
March 2nd, 2008
"Black Irish" is a great film because it has an affection for itssetting and its characters. Despite having some tough subject material,it left me with a somewhat warm and fuzzy feeling.
Normally when writing a review, it is customary to give a shortsynopsis of the plot to let readers know if it is a film that theywould be interested in seeing. But "Black Irish" isn't that kind ofmovie. It's all about the characters, the McKay family. The McKay'saren't doing very well. In fact, their family is more or less inshambles. Katie (Emily VanCamp) is pregnant and unmarried, which causesmuch friction between her and her mother Margret (Melissa Leo). Terry(Tom Guiry) is a violent, out-of-control menace who is about to end upin prison, or dead, which ever comes first. Desmond (Brendan Gleeson)is struggling to earn enough money for his family while drowning hissorrows in alcohol (one of which being a tragic secret). Margret istrying to save face by believing this family is "normal," which it isnot. Caught in the middle of it all is Cole (Michael Angarano), who'smerely trying to stay afloat.
Therein lies its problem. Movies that sacrifice plot for characters arenot bad, provided that its characters are interesting enough andportrayed with good performances (which "Black Irish" is filled with).But Brad Gann doesn't see his movie that way (which is kind ofsurprising, seeing as he wrote and directed it). It seems as if he madethe film to have some underlying story or theme to connect the stories(other than the fact that all of the principal characters are related).Problem is, there isn't any.
Not that this makes "Black Irish" a bad film. It's actually very good.Credit goes to Gann for creating a great sense of atmosphere, andknowing the meaning of the word "subtlety," and how to use it. Nothingis heavy-handed like a sledgehammer as in mainstream films, yet it'snot infinitesimally subtle like some of those intellectual films on theopposite end of the spectrum. "Black Irish" is smack dab in the middle.
The performances are great all around. The best performances go toMichael Angarano and Brendan Gleeson. Angarano is perfect as theconflicted, young man who is our window into the McKay family. Thesubtlety in his performance matches perfectly with Gann's approach.Cole is our window into what's left of the McKay family. Angarano playsCole not as a film character, but as a normal kid. It's not easy to do,and because (when done well) it is so like real life, the performancesoften go unrecognized. Brendan Gleeson is great, too. He shows moredramatic skill than he's been able to in other, more mainstream roles.Desmond is a man who has lost everything, but is trying to do what hecan, even if that means sinking to levels that are just tragic. Thescenes he shares with Angarano are some of the film's best; hisdiscussions about the birds and the bees are laugh-out-loud hilarious(which is especially surprising since this is not a comedy). The otheractors are great as well, especially Tom Guiry as the "out-of-control"Terry, whom everyone seems to have given up on. This is interestingbecause while this hurts Terry (but doesn't show this to anyone), hedoesn't know how to stop his downward spiral. You know the mark of atalented actor if they can create a good performance out of anundeveloped character, which is the case with the other members of thefamily (minus Cole and Desmond), if only slightly.
"Black Irish" is a great film to watch, and it's a shame that it didn'tget a wider distribution, because it's really a great movie. Imperfect,but still well worth a watch.
March 2nd, 2008
IN the past few years we have had plenty of south Boston films, andthen there are the big ones: the departed and gone baby gone. And nowblack irish.
The departed focused on the criminal and violent element, then gonebaby gone was focused more one the police and physcological element.And black irish is now the south Boston family story.
The performances are beyond exceptional but the stand out is MichaelAngarano. I haven't seen him in anything but i knew who he was. But heblew me away with the emotional depth and range he portrayed.
One of the things that surprised me was the lack of profanity andviolence. Don't get me wrong there is cursing and a little bit ofviolence but nothing like the departed and gone baby gone.
I think any fan of the other South Boston movies should see this, buteven if you didn't like those others you should see this. Trulyamazing.
March 5th, 2008
I thought for sure that Black Irish was going to be like Southie packedwith crime. Turns out this movie goes for a deeper more troubling lookat turmoil within in a family. That's what made this one so good.You've got the good brother who is a baseball star who has to live inthe shadow of what his no good brother does as a low level street punk.The teenage sister gets knocked up bringing more shame to the family.The father is a tortured man down on his luck with a history offailure. The mother is the bread winner trying to hold the familytogether. All in all it's not an uplifting movie to watch. It does haveheart and great acting. A gem of a movie to see.