Out of Here (2014)
Out Of Here tells the story of Ciaran (a superb Fionn Walton), who has arrived back in Ireland after spending quite a bit of time travelling abroad. He meets up with old friends, meets a girl in a bar named Melissa (Aoife Duffin) and generally gads about. Ciaran is out of sync with everyone. There is still an old girlfriend Jess (Anabell Rickerby) in his orbit and he can’t quite shake of the feeling that they should reconnect. Foreman’s film has a confidence that is rarely seen in a first feature with some beautiful uses of both overlapping dialogue and contemplative silence. It takes in guilt, boredom and the abandoning of a generation to emigration when things got bad here. Out of Here is low key marvellous filmmaking and is a film I have returned to more than once. Donal Foreman’s new documentary film The Image You Missed recently premiered at the Dublin Film Festival and due to weather related rescheduling I missed the screening. I will be catching it as soon as possible and it should be released later this year.
Snap (2011)
Carmel Winters debut film is a startling & lean thriller about how abuse permeates. Winters’ direction is sharp, representations of changing visual media feels right and the sound adds yet another layer to this superb film. Aisling O'Sullivan, who plays Sharon in the film is excellent, ably supported by Stephen Moran as her son and in an amusing final role, Mick Lally. The story is electric, the drip feeding of information is spot on and the psychological drama is ramped up. A couple of the declarations from Sharon are a tad stagy but that aside this is great filmmaking. We have had to wait quite a while for a follow up film from Winters and we will hopefully see one released this year with her new film Float Like a Butterfly.
This is not an exhaustive list. Other notable films that slipped quietly under the radar include Mark O’Connors disturbing Stalker, Terry Mc Mahon’s divisive Charlie Casanova, Ross Whitaker’s When Ali Came to Ireland, James Marsh’s Shadowdancer, Aoife Kelleher’s One Million Dubliners and Paul Duane’s Natan. All are worth your consideration. I am sure there are many more that I have yet to see. What a thrilling decade for Irish cinema this has been. I would suggest that it might well be the very best. Enjoy as many of these as you can. It beats watching uber cringy The Snapper again (guaranteed to be on TV somewhere on St. Patricks Day, it’s the law apparently).
CinÉireann / March 2018 49