5
minute read
Ireland's cinematic renaissance is marked by a surge in high-quality films including the acclaimed Small Things Like These (2024) starring Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy and Poor Things (2023) with Emma Stone, the most Oscar-nominated, Irish-produced film of all time with 11 nods.
From exploring nuanced themes of identity to gaining historical insights, we’ve selected 17 top movies to celebrate the Emerald Isle.
Poor Things (2023)
Revived by an unconventional scientist, a young woman (Emma Stone) embarks on a global escapade with a lawyer, breaking free from the biases of her era. Unshackled, she becomes resolute in championing equality and liberation. Rotten Tomatoes critics give Poor Things a 92% ranking, calling it “wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top… a bizarre, brilliant tour de force.” (Disney+, Apple, YouTube, Google Play, Prime Video)
Baltimore / Rose’s War (2023)
Baltimore explores the life of Rose Dugdale (portrayed by Imogen Poots), an heiress and debutante who becomes a militant member of the Provisional IRA. The thriller unfolds in April 1974 as Rose orchestrates an art heist at Russborough House, the residence of Sir Alfred Beit. Directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy. Released in the US in March 2024 under the title Rose’s War. IndieWire calls Poots's performance ‘magnetic’. (Mubi)
Small Things Like These (2024)
The Guardian describes Small Things Like These as Cillian Murphy’s ‘piercingly painful Magdalene Laundries drama’ imbued with literary intensity. Murphy, producer and lead actor, plays a man witnessing Ireland’s church’s abusive workhouses for unwed mothers. Playwright Enda Walsh beautifully adapts Claire Keegan's acclaimed novel, with Tim Mielants as director. (Mubi)
An Irish Goodbye (2022)
In rural Northern Ireland, following the untimely death of their mother, a young man with Down syndrome and his estranged brother discover her unfulfilled bucket list and set out to honor her in this Oscar-winning short film. Director Ross White had worked in a special educational needs unit as a teaching assistant. He and co-director Tom Berkeley decided that would be a factor of the character in An Irish Goodbye, but not the point of the drama. "It’s not enough just to put that in front of the camera and say, 'Okay, we’ve got a character with Down syndrome; there you go,'” White explained. "We wanted to write this character that is so multifaceted - who is mischievous, full of heart, and full of swearing." (Prime Video, BBC iPlayer)
In Bruges (2008)
In Bruges is a dark comedy about consequences. Two Irish hitmen Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are laying low in Belgium when Ray meets Chloe, also in town shooting a movie. Irish-British writer/director Martin McDonagh said his own holiday in Bruges inspired the script. He was struck both by Bruges’ beauty and the sheer boredom of spending his day looking at churches and medieval Gothic architecture. “That became two characters in my head - the culture lover and the drunken whore.” (YouTube, Google Play, Prime Video, Apple)
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
The In Bruges cast is back for McDonagh’s tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin, an allegory for the Irish Civil War. Pádraic (Farrell) and Colm (Gleeson) are mates but Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship. Farrell said he felt nervous about being at loggerheads with Gleeson - the opposite of their In Bruges relationship. Luckily, the actors didn’t stay in character off the set. Unlike the city of Bruges, Belgium, Inisherin doesn’t actually exist, but fans can visit Ireland’s west coast where filming took place on Inishmore. (HBO Max, Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, Hulu)
The Quiet Girl (2022)
A nine-year-old girl from a dysfunctional family (actress Catherine Clinch) goes to live with distant relatives for the summer. Living with a middle-aged farm couple, The Quiet Girl discovers a new way of living. She blossoms in their care, but in this house where there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers one. (Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Curzon)
I See a Darkness (documentary, 2023)
Capturing scenes in Paris, Death Valley, and the Nevada nuclear test site, I See a Darkness delves into the intricate historical interplay between photography, cinema, and science. It scrutinizes the impact of Irish-born Lucien Bull's (1876-1972) chrono-photographic experiments on 20th-century image-capture aesthetics and scientific advancements, revealing the military-industrial complex's appropriation of vision technologies, especially in nuclear testing. (Mubi)
The Crying Game (1992)
Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game deals with love, race, war, politics, and identity - all woven around a plot involving an IRA member, Fergus (Stephen Rea), who forms an unexpected bond with kidnapped black British soldier Jody (Forest Whitaker) and promises to visit his girlfriend (Jaye Davidson). When Jordan wrote the script, people said, 'No way are we making this.' In the end, The Crying Game drummed up independent financing and six Oscar nominations. (Prime Video, Chili, All 4 in the UK)
Michael Collins (1996)
Liam Neeson stars in this biopic about Irish revolutionary Michael Collins. After the 1918 election, the victorious Sinn Féin party declared Irish independence and Collins was appointed Director of Intelligence for the emerging IRA. He negotiates a treaty with the British but must decide where his loyalties lie. Neeson, nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, called it his favorite film and said he fell in love with Collins when he was a boy in Northern Ireland studying history: “I think it was his energy, his dynamism, his truth, and absolute dedication to what he believed in.” (Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Prime Video)
Cardboard Gangsters (2017)
Jay’s unemployment benefits are stopped due to a recent DJ-ing gig so he attempts to take over the Darndale drug trade from Murphy, who has controlled it for three decades. Critics describe Cardboard Gangsters as a Dublin-based Boyz n the Hood with bleak humor and an edgy, violent undertone. With a 94 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and stars John Connors and Paul Alwright, you can’t go wrong. (Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Apple TV)
In the Name of the Father (1993)
Gerry (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a petty thief in ‘70s Belfast when he flees to England. When the IRA bomb the Guildford Pub, he is coerced into confessing to a crime he didn’t commit. The drama is based on the true story of the ‘Guildford Four’ prisoners, which inspired Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan. He cast Day-Lewis after they worked together on another classic, My Left Foot (1989), because he knew the actor was ‘politically sensitive’ to the subject. Daniel is mesmerizing throughout, nabbing a Best Actor nomination for his supporting role. (Apple TV, Prime Video)
