Our highlights from this years Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (Part One)
With only four days till this year’s Jameson Dublin International Festival kicks off, we thought we’d bring you our picks from this year’s line-up. We’ve tried to include something for everyone, whether your taste is old, new, foreign or homegrown entertainment. Here are five highlights from this year’s festival. Make sure to come back on Thursday for the next five!
In Bruges
After a botched job in London, hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are ordered by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) to Bruges. Very much out of their element, the two are placed in ever stranger encounters and forced to reconsider their life decisions along the way.
Why see it?
Two reasons. First, it’s an opportunity to see Farrell (finally) give a decent performance as the ridiculously stupid, yet endearing Dub Ray and secondly, it’s always nice to see an Irish film finally get something right and show what Irish cinema has the potential of being on a larger scale- typical that they have to go abroad to do it!
Friday the 15th of February, 2008 – 20:30 – at the Savoy
SOLD OUT
There will be Blood
P.T Anderson’s latest film, a partial adaptation of the Oliver Sinclair’s novel Oil! (and by his own admission a nod to the classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) is the story of the rise of a Texas prospector Daniel Plainview from his early days seeking oil to Citizen Kane-like status. Set in turn of the 20th century America, the film deals with power and the means to it whether that is religion, oil or blood…
Why see it?
Three men give outstanding performances in this film. Behind the camera, P.T Anderson’s slow dissection of the central character builds within you until its eruptive end. Danny-Day as Plainview is, as always, fantastic; his voice and deliverance are what make this character. Equally worthy of mention is Little Miss Sunshine star Paul Dano as the fanatical preacher. If you are lucky enough to get tickets (damn you!!!), P.T.A and Day-Lewis will hold a post screening discussion.
Saturday the 16th of February, 2008 – 19:00 – at the Savoy
SOLD OUT
Mal Noche
Arriving on the damp streets of Portland, Johnny (Cooeyate) and Roberto (Monge) set up in a skid-row flophouse and amble into the orbit of a handsome clerk named Walt (Streeter). With its feet on the ground and its head in the time-lapse clouds, Mala Noche will be the story of Walt’s unrequited love for Johnny, a rhapsodic slacker noir pitched on the edge of physical and emotional darkness (the title means “Bad Night”).
Why see it?
A nostalgic look back at Gus Van Sant’s debut film or an introduction to the man. Either way, a worthwhile film.
Sunday the 17th of February, 2008 – 14:00 – at the Screen Cinema
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Katyn
After Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland and following Joseph Stalin’s order, on September 17, 1939, all Polish Officers found themselves in Soviet slavery. Anna, the wife of an Uhlan Regiment captain is waiting for her man, and receives with disbelief all obvious evidence of his having been murdered by the Russians. The wife of a general, in April 1943, learns of her husband’s death after the Germans discovered mass graves of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest. Silence and lies about the crime break the heart of Agnieszka (Magdalena Cielecka), a sister of a pilot, who shared the lot of the other Polish soldiers. The only survivor is the captain’s friend Jerzy, who entered the ranks of the Polish People’s Army. What is the life of women, waiting for their beloved in the Polish state after the war going to look like, they being still dependent on Soviet Russia? Will homeland and freedom still retain the same meaning for those who have accepted the new system? This latest offering from one of Europe’s greatest directors is a powerful work, forcing audiences to acknowledge the sheer scale of brutality meted out and the grievous consequences for the families affected.
Why see it?
A chance to see it before the Oscars, see what all the fuss is about.
SOLD OUT
Wednesday the 20th of February, 2008 – 18:30 – at the Screen Cinema
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Comrades in Dreams
Directed by Uli Gaulke, Comrades in Dreams is a joyful, poignant and beautifully observed celebration of moviegoing. From a small-town picturehouse in America run by a middle-aged woman who seems constantly on the verge of tears, we’re taken to an open-air cinema in Burkina Faso, leased by three friends who dream of one day owning a cinema with a roof. In rural India, meanwhile, the bashful Anup has customers fighting to get into his tent, which he moves from village to village. Most astonishingly, Gaulke takes us to North Korea, where Hang Yong-sil is hugely proud to show thinly veiled propaganda glorifying the nation and its leaders to the farmers who make up her audience..
Why see it?
Personally selected by Programme Director Grainne Humphrey as her ‘festival highlight’, the film, according to Humphreys, ‘shows how important cinema is and how what we see on screen can really affect us. How you can be emotionally connected to film, some can be a source of comfort or controversy; some can shock you, even change your mind’.
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