I Went Down Review
by "Harvey S. Karten" (film_critic AT compuserve DOT com)July 15th, 1998
I WENT DOWN
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D.
Artisan Films
Director: Paddy Breathnach
Writer: Paddy Breathnach
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Peter McDonald, Tony Doyle, Peter Caffrey
Some Irish movies travel well across the Atlantic, intriguing Americans of all ethnic groups as much as they interest the folks from Dublin to Galway. "The Boxer" is just such a picture. On the other hand there are some movies whose humor is so quiet, so inaccessible, that you wonder whether they were made for anyone's enjoyment. If "I Went Down" and "Bulworth" opened at the same time in the theater of Cork and Spigo, which picture do you think the townspeople would see?
"I Went Down" is meant to be taken as a cute illustration of the Irish gift for gab, but the language is far from the poetry of Sean O'Casey and is no match for the crisp dialogue of a Jim Sheridan. A mafia-style road comedy, the story is like a theater piece for two with assorted oddball characters thrown in to expand the dimensions. Git (Peter McDonald), a handsome, young, taciturn lad whose girl friend left him during his six-year term in jail, roughs up a couple of gangsters who are about to crush the fingers of his friend Anto (David Wilmot). The gang leader, Tom French (Tony Doyle) will forgive him and release Anto if Git will gather up some money for him and kidnap a man who has had an affair with French's wife. Bunny (Brendan Gleeson) is assigned to watch Git, and during their time on the road this pair, at first mistrustful of each other, become good friends. Their camaraderie is greatly aided while they hold Frank Grogan (Peter Caffrey) as a hostage. Frank tries to talk his way out of his restrained position and almost succeeds in convincing his captors that he is being held for a strictly personal reason, that of having the affair with the gang boss. "Did you ever make love to a gangster's wife?" he moans. "It's like making love with the angel of death looking over your shoulder..You can't enjoy yourself."
This observation is the wittiest in the film, which wouldn't be so bad if writer-director Breathnach could have sustained the merriment. Breathnath portrays Git's appeal in zeroing in on a one-night stand he enjoys with a local girl in a bar, but despite the decent acting of the ensemble, "I Went Down" is an indie that's just too unreachable.
Rated R. Running time: 107 minutes. (C) Harvey Karten
1998
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
