Sweet Story: An Exploration of Film and Culture
Coming Home was a film that spoke to an America just coming to grips with the lasting effects of the Vietnam war. Though filmed in the late seventies, Coming Home takes places in 1968, a year that was marked by not only the escalating conflict in Vietnam, but also political and social turmoil within 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 →
“ 'We will each write a ghost story', said Lord Byron, and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us” (Shelley, Author's Introduction, 7). The above quote is from Mary Shelley's introduction to her 1818 novel Frankenstein and refers to the fateful night in the summer of 1816 where Lord Byron ordered the guests gathered at... Continue Reading →
The second season of American Crime Story ended its run on RTÉ last month. Entitled The Assassination of Gianni Versace, the series focuses on the crimes of Andrew Cunanan, a disturbed young man who killed five people over a few months in 1997. The celebrated fashion designer Gianni Versace became Cunanan final victim on the 15th July. As... 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 →
A profile of David Gleeson's 2003 comedy-drama. Contains some spoilers. Set in Limerick city during the boom years, Cowboys and Angels depicts the growing friendship between two very different men and looks at the anxieties and challenges faced by young people trying to establish their identity in a modern city. When shy civil servant Shane... 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 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... 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 