Ondine (2009, Ireland)

I was rather intrigued by the concept of this film. Also I hadn't seen an Irish film in awhile, and I was curious to see what kind of film would cause Colin Farrell to leave Hollywood and return to Ireland.

Syracuse, who's better known as Circus because of his drunken antics, has a disabled daughter whose mother he's estranged from. He's a fisherman, and one day he catches a beautiful woman in his net. She says her name is Ondine, which means "she came from the sea." His daughter thinks Ondine is a selkie; Circus thinks he's falling in love.

Ondine is a modern Irish fairy tale, but it has all the magic and darkness of old Irish fairy tales and all the bleak realism of modern Irish life. I guess you could call it magical realism. It is damp, poor, sad, magical, beautiful, wonderful Ireland at its best. The contrast between the fantasy story and the true story is perfectly balanced. The score was mostly this (I can't help using the word yet again) magical-sounding guitar music which fit perfectly. And Colin Farrell was brilliant, a strong choice for the role of an almost weak and broken man. The girl who played Ondine was also talented, and the girl who played the daughter nearly stole the show.

Beautiful. Magical. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.0

Breakfast on Pluto (2005, Ireland)

Now these are the kinds of things I watch when my odd (but wonderful!) friends recommend films to me. We have Jeff to thank for this one.

Breakfast on Pluto is the story of Patrick "Kitten" Braden, whose mother abandons him after his birth—he is the illegitimate child of the priest in the small Irish village. He begins cross-dressing from a young age. He hangs out with other unusual kids—a bohemian girl, a boy with Down's Syndrome, and a future IRA revolutionary. He causes a lot of trouble in his Catholic school. In other words, he's just an odd duck. But he always, always stays true to who he is inside, no matter how much external forces threaten him or not take him seriously. (He continually has to tell people that he can take things seriously, but that they are too serious.)

So Kitten tells the story of how he sets out for England to find his long-lost mother, the strange things that happen to him along the way, and what he really finds in the end. It's about his character, and it's about his journey. That, combined with the interesting method of story-telling (he actually gives chapter titles and tells his own "autobiography") and the "big" themes (gender identity, cultural/Irish national identity), make this film unique. There are touching moments, funny moments, uncomfortable moments... It's just great.

And Cillian Murphy? Wonderful.

Rating: 3.5