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...

Beyond ‘Hip Hedonism’: The darker side of urban Celtic Tiger Ireland

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...

Solidarity Forever: Bridging the divide in Pride and Good Vibrations

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....

Tribute to a Troubadour: Remembering Mic Christopher

29th November 2016 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the death of Irish singer/ songwriter Michael 'Mic' Christopher. Referred to as "one of the most charismatic musicians of his generation" (Miller) Christopher left behind a stunning musical legacy in the form of his posthumously released solo album Skylarkin'.   I discovered Mic Christopher's music sometime in my...

‘Living, in our own terrible way.’* The disorientation of Ireland’s youth culture in contemporary film and television

Through a series of blog posts, I will explore how contemporary Irish film and television portray the difficulties faced by young Irish men and women. The last few years have seen a string of Irish films and TV series that portray a darker side of Irish life with issues like depression, alcohol and drug abuse, alienation,...