Top Five Irish Podcasts

In the last decade, the podcast industry has grown to become one of the most popular forms of audio entertainment. With the rise of smartphones and iPods, podcasts have allowed for a portable and accessible way to listen to long-form conversations and interviews. In Ireland, some of the recent developments in the field have been...

John Butler’s Handsome Devil and the hollow promise of “it gets better”

The following article contains some spoilers for the recently released Irish film Handsome Devil, directed by John Butler. The film explores the friendship between a social outcast and the star athlete at a rugby-obsessed, all-boys private boarding school. The film stars up and coming actors Fionn O'Shea and Nicholas Galitzine as the central characters.  http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-official-trailer-for-irish-comedy-handsome-devil-1.2980780 In a key...

What Richard Did: A film about failure

In his 2012 film What Richard Did, director Lenny Abrahamson depicts the downfall of the titular rugby playing 'golden boy' following an act of violence. The film's serious subject matter and the fact that its plot was inspired by the real-life events surrounding the death of a Dublin teenager, meant that its production was a heavy...