Tribeca Cinemas

Irish Film for St Patrick’s Day Viewing

**The following views are personal thoughts on each film, and do not reflect the opinion of Tribeca Enterprises or any of its affiliates.

Full disclaimer: The Quiet Man (1952) was the first John Ford film I ever saw, and the first quality film I can remember seeing, at an embarrassingly young age. With an undeniable impact on my appreciation for Ford’s body of work, the film centers around John Wayne as Sean Thorton, an American boxer who returns to the Irish village he grew up in. The film is fitting as John Ford’s love letter to Ireland, and John Wayne’s version of a romance. The courtship and marriage that develops between Sean Thorton and Maureen O’Hara’s character Mary-Kate Danaher drives the stronger plot points with a healthy dose of horse racing, boxing, and brogues for good measure.

The lush Irish country side and quaint village portrayed in The Quiet Man is a drastic departure from the mis-en-scene of Ford’s 1935 film, The Informer. The dire story of a Dublin IRA member’s betrayal, his prostitute girlfriend, and their efforts to get to America is a somber moral drama. Both films are worthy of a viewing, if not to see the work that won Ford his first Oscar (The Quiet Man was his fourth) then to see a drastically different film both visually and thematically. From a minimal and expressionist set to the dire subject matter, The Informer is a somber film that sets the thematic tone for many of Ford’s works to follow.

Darby O’Gill and the Little People offers a healthy dose of camp, and some fantastic special effects circa 1959. This family film directed by Robert Stevenson centers around a sly, trickster of an old man and his leprechaun friend King Brian. While entirely ridiculous in its premise, the film features a dashing young Sean Connery as Darby O’Gill’s young rival for his job, and beau of his daughter. Did I mention he sings too?

Rory O’Shea Was Here (2004) features terrifically affecting performances from James McAvoy and Romona Garali years before their success and work together in Atonement (2007). Damien O’Donnell’s film shows the fragile joy of two men living with life affecting illnesses. Steven Robertson plays Michael, a young man with cerebral palsy who meets McAvoy’s Rory O’Shea in a residential home for the disabled. Suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Rory infuses Michael’s life with adventure, debauchery, and true friendship. When Romona Garali’s character Siobhán joins the men as their caretaker, the trio endures coming of age struggles that are both unique to their disabilities and universally relatable.

Topping the list is a favorite summer blockbuster alternatives from 2011 is The Guard. Directed by John Michael McDonagh and set in Western Ireland, Brendan Gleeson delivers a Golden Globe Nominated performance as a highly unconventional Garda. After dealing with a series of murders under the Garda’s watch, the FBI becomes involved in the investigation as it links to a dangerous drug ring with Don Cheadle leading charge. Billed as a black comedy, the dry wit in the screenplay brought to life by Gleeson is nearly perfect with Cheadle rounding out the odd couple of crime solving and accidental comedy.