Pursued by a Bear

  • I wanna talk about how bad you make this room look

    February 9, 2010 @ 4:02 pm | by Fiona

    I love country music. I’m also very fond of Jeff Bridges, so I was particularly well disposed towards Crazy Heart, the film that’s already garnered him an Oscar nomination, as well as one for his co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal. Based on a novel by Thomas Cobb, it’s the tale of one Bad Blake, a whiskey-sluggin’, geetar playin’, fading country music singer whose star has fallen so low when he first hits the screen that he’s playing bowling alleys for cash. And then he meets a younger - waaaaaaaay younger - woman, which encounter might make you feel a little squirmy if it didn’t seem so strangely credible. What makes the viewer suspend disbelief in this unlikely love is the undeniable charm of a 57-year-old chain-smoking alcoholic who tells a pretty girl, perched on the sofa of his cheap motel room: “I wanna talk about how bad you make this room look.”

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  • Free free free!

    February 5, 2010 @ 1:19 pm | by Fiona

    In case you’d forgotten, what with all the social activity about these days, tomorrow is Open Day at the Irish Film Institute which means it’s free - FREE! - in to every film all day. The open day screenings kick off with Ponyo, an animated story of a fish-girl by Hayao Miyazaki, he of Spirited Away fame. Also on offer is the much-touted Crazy Heart, which has already earned its two stars, Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscar nominations this year, and Tom Ford’s film debut A Single Man. The open day film finale is a screening of The Lives of Others, which topped the IFI’s online poll for the People’s Choice Awards, in which eighteen hit films - one from each year the IFI has been open - competed. Full, recession-busting schedule below, while tickets are allocated on the day for those who show up from 11 a.m. onwards.

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  • Is this seat taken, Mr Clooney?

    February 3, 2010 @ 5:25 pm | by Fiona

    Move over Frankie, it’s Granny’s turn to go to Hollywood.   

  • Bakers and music makers for Haiti

    February 2, 2010 @ 12:42 pm | by Fiona

    Cakes and music. What’s not to love? Exactly. So get yourself down to the Twisted Pepper this Thursday for the Benefit Cake Sale and Gig for Haiti, organised by the lovely Sweet Oblivion. BATS, Hunter-Gatherer and Groom will be looking after the tunes side of things, followed by Nialler9, Popical Island DJs and the Mary Jane Girls on the decks. To ensure you last the pace and have plenty of energy for the musical delights, lots of brilliant bakers will be selling their wares beforehand, with all funds going to GOAL. All I’m saying is this foodie lady is promising cookies, muffins and fudge slices, and that should be incentive enough for anyone. Thursday 4th, 7 p.m. Put it in yizzer diaries, google calendars and the like.

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  • The Irish Times Book Club

    February 1, 2010 @ 10:46 am | by Fiona

    In case anyone missed it in Saturday’s paper, my colleague Rosita Boland has joined us in blogland with The Book Club blog. This month, the book under discussion is Brooklyn. Have a look, and have your say.

  • JDIFF countdown and Slamdance delight

    January 29, 2010 @ 12:30 pm | by Fiona

    What a week for Irish film. Not only does Conor Horgan’s haunting debut feature One Hundred Mornings get a Special Jury Mention at the Slamdance Film Festival in Utah, but the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival has launched its programme with plenty of cinematic goodies to look forward to. The latter kicks off with the European premier of Neil Jordan’s Ondine, while also featuring a celebration of Kristin Scott Thomas’ French film work, including the Irish premiere of her new film Partir. Then there’s the screening of I Am Love with director Luca Guadagnino and actor Tilda Swinton in attendance, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works starring Larry David, Tim Burton’s glorious-looking Alice in Wonderland 3D, a Russian season that includes a screening of Mermaid, a Korean season with Bong Jun-ho’s Mother, a screening of Horgan’s aforementioned Slamdance hit, a tribute to this newspaper’s late film correspondent Michael Dwyer which includes a series of films he particularly championed, and lots more to be found here.  Some Blind Alleys gives its documentary tips here. Any other recommendations? (more…)

  • J.D. Salinger bows out

    January 28, 2010 @ 7:21 pm | by Fiona

    As Holden Caulfield put it: “What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.”

  • Irish Times Theatre Awards

    January 27, 2010 @ 12:13 pm | by Fiona

    There’s been some kerfuffle about the nominations for the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2009,  with all manner of cyber mutterings, some measured comment and some, perhaps predictable, outrage - it is an awards list, after all. “This was our reflection of what was most memorable and what was of the highest artistic standard,” was how Sara Keating defended the nominations by the three judges, who saw hundreds of shows between them over the course of last year. Yet still these choices seem to have raised the hackles of those who query ommissions or quibble with inclusions. So what is it about these nominations that has so many tongues wagging in the theatre world? This blog is open for comment: have your say.

  • Kate McGarrigle RIP

    January 19, 2010 @ 2:01 pm | by Fiona

  • Monday roundup

    January 18, 2010 @ 6:09 pm | by Fiona

    Reading: Skippy Dies, by Paul Murray. Finally, some Irish writing set in contemporary Ireland. And it ain’t pretty (the Ireland, not the writing).

    Saw: Up in the Air. Though slow enough in the take off,  it’s not that often a film can surprise you, for which I am grateful. It helps that I have a soft spot for anything that stars any member of the cast of that comedic delight, Arrested Development.  Strangely, Up in the Air already feels dated, but there are moments - like that crashed convention, if you’ve already seen it - that were cringingly true to life. Unbearable lightness of flying, anyone?

    Squashed: That’s the word I’d use for the Irish Museum of Modern Art last Sunday, where EVERYBODY had taken advantage of the sudden change in our meteorlogical fortunes to hightail it down to Picturing New York. So yes, the small building housing the exhibit was a little jammers for tranquil viewing, but still worth a trip for some beautiful photos of a city that became itself through them. Shots by Alfred Stieglitz, Diane Arbus and Henri Cartier-Bresson are among the 145 black and white works on show, dating from the nineteenth century to today. All are from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, with this selection curated by Sarah Meister. Go see New York at IMMA (but pick a rainy day).

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