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A YEAR AGO, we told you about the Irish films you’d be watching in 2017 – and brought you news of Handsome Devil, Maudie, Maze, The Drummer and the Keeper, and Song of Granite.
It has been another fantastic year for Irish cinema, with the above films all garnering great reviews and solid box office performance. Maze had one of the biggest box office openings of the year, while Cardboard Gangsters could end up being the biggest Irish film of 2017 (following in the footsteps of last year’s Young Offenders).
Ireland also had a good stake in the nominations for next year’s Golden Globes, with Saoirse Ronan getting a mention for her role in the forthcoming Lady Bird, while Martin McDonagh picked up two nominations for his much-anticipated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Nora Twomey’s The Breadwinner was nominated in the best animation category.
But for Irish filmmakers to do well globally, they must first start here at home, and it’s usually their first feature films that highlight who are the ones to watch in the future. So keeping a close eye on the year’s new homegrown releases is essential for knowing who the top Irish filmmakers of the future are likely to be.
So with that in mind, here are some of 2018′s Irish release highlights.
The Breadwinner
One of Ireland’s Oscar hopes in 2018, this animated movie – nominated for a Golden Globe – brings us the story of Parvana, who gives up her identity to provide for her family and try to save her father’s life. Expect a film about self-empowerment and imagination in the face of oppression, and a celebration of Afghanistan’s history and culture.
It has already won Best Animation at the LA Critics Association Awards, the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the inaugural Animation is Film event in LA.
Kissing Candice
This is Aoife McArdle’s first feature-length film (she has directed music videos for U2 and a range of TV commercials), and is described as “an unconventional love story and coming-of-age drama set in a seaside town along Ireland’s north/south border”. Critics are already describing her as “a bold cinematic voice”.
Float Like A Butterfly
A film set in 1970’s Ireland which tells the story of Irish Traveller Francis, who’s determined to pursue her one love, boxing. She wants to show her father just how tough she is, but soon realises he’s got other plans for her.
A Girl From Mogadishu
This film is based on the testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, who escaped war-torn Somalia to become a prominent activist.
Highway
US-shot road movie about a small-town diner waitress “searching across the desert for her missing best friend/rodeo queen who has disappeared with a mysterious stranger”. Stars Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver) and Lucy Fry (Wolf Creek).
The Limit Of
Starring IFTA rising star Laurence O’Fuarain (Vikings, Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope), this is about a young bank working in finance who loses his soul during the boom. Much of the soundtrack is by Irish musician Mick Flannery.
Vita and Virginia
This Irish co-production was filmed on location in Dublin and Wicklow, and has an all-star cast including Elizabeth Debicki, Gemma Arterton and Isabella Rossellini. The film is based on the true story of the relationship between Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki) and socialite Vita Sackville-West (Gemma Arterton) in 1920’s London.
A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot
This documentary is about a dissident Republican community in Derry, who are still at war despite the Good Friday peace agreement. They respond to ‘anti-social behaviour’ with kneecap shootings, banishment and even murder. This was filmed over five years and looks at “the complexities of a post-conflict society”.
Michael Inside
This incredible Irish film is about a young teenager who ends up in prison due to a small and believable act – and it’s an unflinching look at how one thing changes the course of his life forever.
The Little Stranger
Based on the book of the same name by Sarah Waters, this supernatural thriller is set in the aftermath of the Second World War. It’s Lenny Abrahamson’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning film Room.
The Lodgers
We’ve featured this film before on the site – based on a script by David Turpin, it’s set in 1920′s rural Ireland during the war of independence. It features a pair of Anglo-Irish twins, Rachel and Edward, who are just about to turn eighteen and live in a spooky house.
The Cured
This film was lauded by critics at TIFF for its exploration of social issues through horror. It’s essentially a zombie film, set six years after a virus has devastated Europe, transforming people into zombie-like monsters. All is lost until a cure is found. But things can’t be that simple…
The Hole in the Ground
Lee Cronin’s directorial debut stars Seána Kerslake as a young single mother who becomes convinced her little boy has been transformed by something sinister from the depths of a mysterious sinkhole.
Dark Lies the Island
Starring Pat Shortt, Moe Dunford, Charlie Murphy and Tommy Tiernan, the film follows the characters in a long-standing family feud in a small Irish town over the course of a week. It’s based on the Kevin Barry story of the same name.
Black ‘47
A revenge thriller set in 1847 Ireland, which is devastated by the Great Famine.
The Widow
Frances is a young woman who arrives in Manhattan and forms an unlikely friendship with a widow, played by Huppert, whose motives “soon reveal themselves to be untoward”.
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I have only used windows 8 on friends laptops, I found it disastrous though. A nightmare to navigate and get around. Quite happy with windows 7 and I won’t be in a rush to change
Still with 7 myself, I see it’s included in the update.
Might just wait and see though, hopefully they’ve nailed it this time.
I upgraded to 8.1 as it’s part of the minimum requirements for Kinect for windows V2 only to discover that it’s heavy on USB3 bandwidth and the hardware isn’t up to it.
I have to say though, having used a windows tablet before I really don’t see what people are complaining about with Win 8.1 – I’ve come to the conclusion that people don’t like change and that’s the issue more than anything.
“Linux is for people who want to know why it works. Mac is for people who don’t want to know why it works. DOS is for people who want to know why it does not work. Windows is for people who don’t want to know why it does not work.”
If you like Windows 7 then you’ll love Windows 10. It’s like a fork in the tree, bringing the familiarity of Windows 7 to the performance and features of Windows 8.1, plus more. The UI stuff appears to have been sorted out, with desktops/laptops acting like updated Windows 7 desktops/laptops, and mobile devices focusing more on the “Modern” UI. Hybrid devices can adapt using a feature called Continuum. And best feature: it’s one Windows 10 across phone, tablet, laptop/desktop, and the TV (via Xbox One) with one common store, enabling devs to write for all devices at once using “Universal Apps”. That should prod The Journal to finally give us a native app ;-)
Nah Tony, that’s arse. OSX is also for people who know how the sausage is made but don’t want to make it every time. All the BSD you can eat and mainstream platform support.
Microsoft aren’t really losing revenue that can be expected in this age of platform agnosticism. You can’t even win in the OS market by giving superior product away.
If you can`t getr your head around the new look Windows 8/8.1 – look into a program called “Classic Shell” (free) – it will let you organise windows 8/8.1 into looking like windows 7 , easy to use and configure.
Start8 by Stardock. It’s totally seamless and has everything you need for a native feeling Windows 7 experience. I keep forgetting other Win8 machines don’t have it! The only remnant of Metro is the wifi sidebar. It costs a few quid but it’s perfect and made by a great little company.
Classic shell is great. Surprised few people know about it. So much unnecessary hate towards 8.1
Classic shell is free, where as Start8 is only free for 30days and $9.99 thereafter.
Thats what i did as i was so used to using windows 7 but my laptop packed up so cheaper buying new one but missed the interface of 7!!!
What’s gass about media coverage of tech industry is that they only focus on consumer products. Decline in sales of PC’s doesn’t affect their sales of their Server products and other enterprise software, which back in 2013 brought them in over $20billion in revenue (Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange, Visual Studio/dev tools)
Windows 8 is a complete balls, the only good thing about it was its fast to load, but it’s a nightmare to use, If they kept the start button and give the option to switch over it wouldn’t be so bad. Windows 7 was grand
They gave the start button back in one of the updates. As for the metro interface if you spend 30 secs putting your programs in and learn the keyboard shortcut that have been a part of windows since at least 95. You find navigation much faster than 7. Also the search function on Windows 8 please you can just type what you what and get it. It people were willing to change a bit they would live how fast windows 8 makes everything.
For the record I hated 8 when I got it but after I used it for a month it and got used to it. I started to like it and then I when back to Windows 7 and found how slow things impossible to deal with.
Using windows 8.1 and it’s fine wouldn’t go back to windows 7 tbh, it’s a very Lean OS and flies along when installed on an ssd. Also I picked up the Microsoft Lumia 535 in Argos for €115 and have to say it’s an nice phone 5″ screen quad core no slowdown main apps are there like Facebook Twitter etc, no journal app but someone put up an unofficial app and it works fine. I did have a Moto G but it failed on calls the person who I was talking to voice would become garbled if the signal dropped a bar.
Windows 10 Technical Preview is worth a shot. Stepping back to go forwards. Start menu is enhanced by taking some design tips from Windows ’98 and the charms seem to be sleeping with the fishes.
Still, if you want to save money on system maintenance and have a better user Apple is still the only way to go.
Interesting comment from MS recently where they described Windows 10 as a service. Some eagle eyed commentators picked up on that. A service could mean a subscription based service similar to the model that Adobe have moved to. I’m on Win 7 and even though the upgrade to 10 is free for a year, I won’t move until I know its definitely non subscription based.
Do yourself a favour and dual boot it with Ubuntu. Trust me, you’ll hardly ever use Windows again.
Yep…Linux Mint being the best flavour of the day for newbies. I’ve put at least 15 people on it last year in dual boot and none of them have used Windows since. They all remark that their mental health has improved.
One less year of private education for the kids after that dip in share price today..
I thought I’d want to stay on 7 until they “fixed” things after the windows 8 fiasco but having in tried it I now really like it. I have it on the surface pro 3 also and I think it’s very good on that form factor.
I have 10 running on a laptop at present and have tried it on the surface. It’s excellent. 7 looks and feels antiquated at this stage.
I don’t see the need to buy into this idea of updating the software every year. It’s only a moneyspinner. I have used Windows 95 on my home PC and it is still going strong.
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