The Boys From County Claire Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)March 7th, 2005
THE BOYS AND GIRL FROM COUNTY CLARE
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
First Look Pictures
Grade:A-
Directed by: John Irvin
Written by: Nicholas Adams
Cast: Bernard Hill, Colm Meaney, Patrick Bergin, Charlotte Bradley, Andrea Corr, Shaun Evans, Jim Nesbitt
Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 1/13/05
The 80-year-old woman dishing out gallons of Guiness Stout may not be the best example of her people, but generally speaking, the Irish are not only the planet's best-looking people but when they speak in that melodious lilt, you can't help wanting to listen for hours. It's no wonder that Irish-Americans predominate among the Hollywood fraternity of actors. There's a danger that all this loveliness could distract you from the story of John Irvin's "The Boys and Girl from County Clare," but then again even if the pretty cailin (colleen) and gentlemen in this movie don't take your mind from the tale, the music just might. "The Boys and Girl from Country Clare" is a comedy-drama- musical, a triple play that works in every respect. The film is heartwarming, uplifting, and the gorgeous sounds of Ceili (KAY lee) music will have your spirits soaring. "County Clare" possesses the whimsy of Kirk Jones's "Waking Ned Devine," an awfully slight comedy about a tiny Irish village turned asunder when one of its aged residents wins the lottery, and works its spell on the audience in much the style that benefitted John Sayles's "The Secret of Roan Irish," about a girl sent to live with her grandparents on the west coast of Ireland who discovers the myths and magic that have affected her family. (The three films were all produced by Ellen Little.)
This is the story of two brothers who have had nothing to do with each other for a long time: John Joe (Bernard Hill), the older half of the pair with a scruffy white beard, and Jimmy (Colm Meany), the one who long ago left his village and went to Liverpool to make himself a punt. While some would think they'd have a lot in common, since both became leaders of Ceili bands in their respective locations, their musical ambitions led them instead to be professional rivals. When John Joe discovers that his brother would take part in the annual festival (which John Joe had won the last two years in succession), he takes action to delay his brother's journey by ferry and car from Liverpool so that he'd not register by an 8 p.m. deadline: he has the customs inspector give Jimmy's band a thorough instrumental inspection.
The two men and their bands are on location in a timely fashion, giving the leaders ample time to strut their respective stuff and, more important, to get together, bounce bellicose words off each other while downing a pint or two, and discover (surprise!) that underneath the friction there exists a mighty fraternal camaraderie.
Providing the movie's melodrama is a newly discovered paternity factor, the major reason for the friction between the two sibs involving the conception of a beautiful and talented lass named Anne (Andrea Corr), a fiddler in John Joe's band, by a man who had promised to marry Anne's mother, Maisie (Charlotte Bradley) but left her in the lurch. Maisie's disgust of men emerges when her daughter Anne falls swiftly in love with the innocent and princely flutist Teddy (Shaun Evans), the latter chased away by Maisie because she knows, as the rest of us do, that all men have just one thing on their minds.
If we're not laughing at the antics of the brothers, then, we're commiserating with Maisie. When we're not encouraging the young lovers to follow their passion, we're listening to the foot- tapping beats of the Ceili bands. There's a terrific twist toward the conclusion when the winning band is announced. Then again, "The Boys and Girl from County Clare," filmed in Northern Ireland near Belfast and on the Isle of Man, is one terrific picture.
Not Rated. 90 minutes. © 2005 by Harvey Karten
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