Sweet Story: An Exploration of Film and Culture
"I don't want to get into the system as it exists. I want to create my own corner. It all comes down to this, if you don't want to be a part of what exists, you've got to create your own reason for existence." (Barbara Loden, quoted in You Must Remember This) Barbara Loden was... Continue Reading →
Lost Girls (Netflix, 2020). Directed by Liz Garbus, screenplay by Michael Werwie, based on the book Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker. Late one night in May 2010, a young woman made a frantic call to 911. She was calling from Oak Beach, an affluent residential area in rural Long Island. Visibly distressed, she... Continue Reading →
A Date for Mad Mary. Element Pictures, 2016. Directed by Darren Thornton. Screenplay by Darren Thornton and Colin Thornton. Produced by Ed Guiney and Juliette Bonass. Adapted from the one-woman play 10 Dates with Mad Mary (2010) by Yasmine Akram. Starring: Seána Kerslake, Tara Lee, Charleigh Bailey, Denise McCormack, Siobhan Shanahan. [Image: scannain.com] Darren Thornton’s... Continue Reading →
About halfway through Maeve Brennan’s novella The Visitor, the author comments on the two worlds that exist within the landscape of a city. She distinguishes these two worlds by describing them as, the one with walls around it, meaning the private interior world of the home, and the one with people around it, which is the public... Continue Reading →
Following on from my 2018 article (https://scealmilis.wordpress.com/2018/01/07/top-five-irish-podcasts/), I am taking a look at some of the best Irish podcasts around. Up to 90 Hosted by comedians Emma Doran and Julie Jay, Up to 90 looks at all things nineties. From Princess Diana to Michelle Smith, The Spice Girls to Courtney Love, and Friends to Fight Club, Up to 90 takes... Continue Reading →
To mark the recent return of American Horror Story for its ninth season, entitled 1984, I have put together a quick list of some of my favourite episodes from previous seasons. Contains spoilers for seasons 1-8. Season 1 (Murder House) Episode 9: Spooky Little Girl American Horror Story is often at its strongest when the series incorporates real people and events... Continue Reading →
Lynnwood, Washington, 2008: a young woman named Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever) awakes to find an intruder in her apartment. The masked man ties her up and rapes her. The next morning Marie reports her assault to the police. After submitting to a physical examination, and repeating an account of her sexual assault several times, the... Continue Reading →
“Home is a place in the mind. When it is empty it frets. It is fretful with memory, faces and places and times gone by. Beloved images rise up in disobedience and make a mirror for emptiness." The above quote is from Maeve Brennan's novella The Visitor and was my first introduction to her. I discovered... Continue Reading →
In 2011, an independent Irish film entitled Parked debuted to somewhat mixed reviews and little attention. While many critics praised the strong performances in the film, its plot and pacing received a mixed response. It won awards and was well-reviewed at several international film festivals, but it didn't seem to get much attention at home. Overall the... Continue Reading →
In 2016-17, I completed an MA in English, specialising in Irish Writing and Film, at University College Cork. As part of the course, everyone in my class was required to set up and regularly update a blog. The idea of the blog initially filled my classmates and me with dread, as blogging was completely uncharted territory for... Continue Reading →
