Sweet Story: An Exploration of Film and Culture
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 →
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 →
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 →
“I remember one particular kid… one of the players… he left the pitch and he said to his dad; ’I don’t give a fock how you think I played, just crack open the wallet dude’ … and that’s the moment in my mind that Ross O’Carroll-Kelly was born.” Paul Howard, Episode 86: An Irishman Abroad... Continue Reading →
Since its debut on Channel 4 this spring, Lisa McGee’s Derry Girls proved to be a hit with critics and viewers alike. Partly based on McGee’s experiences growing up in Derry, the series offered a refreshingly warm and funny look at adolescence in 1990’s Northern Ireland. Throughout the first season, the Troubles acted as a... Continue Reading →
In celebration of the release of season one of Stefanie Preissner's comedy-drama, Can't Cope, Won't Cope on Netflix, I'm taking a look at some of the best recent Irish television comedies. I want to pay particular attention to comedies that have female writers and shows where female characters play a substantial role. Derry Girls: Lisa... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
In his 2007 essay "Cinema, city, and imaginative space: 'Hip hedonism' and recent Irish cinema", McLoone outlines how the relative prosperity and optimism of the Celtic Tiger years led a cultural rebirth of Dublin, and a re-imagining of Ireland's capital in film as a space of "sexual freedom and exploration" (213). Films like Goldfish Memory... Continue Reading →
Matthew Warchus's critically acclaimed 2014 film Pride opens with the trade union anthem 'Solidarity Forever'. A recurring theme throughout the film is that there is strength in solidarity, particularly when people from different communities unite. In a key scene striking Welsh miner Dai tells young Northern Irish gay activist Mark: "That's what the labour movement means, should mean.... Continue Reading →
Scéal Milis 