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• DFCC and surprise film at JDIFF

  February 26, 2012 @ 5:50 pm | by Donald Clarke

  We had an impressively suave line-up of talent at the Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards. Marjane Satrapi, Marian Finucane and Gareth Evans all turned up to accept awards at the perennially diverting soiree in the Irish Film Institute. This year’s (genuinely) hard-working panel comprised: President Tara Brady and Mr Donald Clarke, both of this parish; Ms Brogen Hayes of movies.ie; Ms Nicola Timmins of Average Film Reviews; Mr John Maguire of The Sunday Business Post; Ms Roe McDermott of Hot Press and Dr “Diamond” Dave O’Mahony of Access Cinema. They are all very fine people.

  The eventual winner of best film was Gareth Evans’s The Raid. Working in Indonesia, the Welshman has delivered one of the most fluid, original action films in recent years. Shuffling from rugby match to airport, Gareth swanned in to wave at the punters and express his gratitude. (Apologies for the crappy photographs. My camera failed.)

  

  L to R: Gavin Burke of Phantom FM; Tara Brady, DFCC President; Gareth Evans.

  Marian Finucane, instigator and narrator of Nuala: A Life and Death, joined director Patrick Farrelly to receive their gong for best Irish film. Made for RTÉ, the picture unearths stories about Nuala O’Faolain that fairly rattle the heart.

  

  Marian Finucane and Patrick Farrelly.

  The full list of award-winners is detailed below. Most films will be coming your way fairly soon. A few have not yet received distribution or broadcast dates.

  BEST FILM

  The Raid

  BEST IRISH FILM

  Nuala: A Life and Death

  BEST ACTOR

  Michael Fuith – Michael

  BEST ACTRESS

  Greta Gerwig – Damsels in Distress

  BEST SCREENPLAY

  Footnote

  BEST DOCUMENTARY

  Samsara

  BEST DIRECTOR

  Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Once Upon A Time In Anatolia

  MICHAEL DWYER DISCOVERY AWARD

  Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhride

  SPECIAL JURY AWARDS

  Ivan Kavanagh – Tin Can Man

  Ruben Östlund – Play

  Aisling Loftus – Death of a Superhero

  Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi – Chicken with Plums

  The (second) surprise film turned out to be Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must be the Place. I had already seen the picture at Cannes and thought it pretty good. As you will be aware, this is the one starring Sean Penn as an aging rock star, based in Dublin, who sets off across America in search of a Nazi war criminal. I thought the stuff with Penn was really good. He comes across as an unholy — but benign — combination of Robert Smith and Michael Jackson. It’s a very eccentric performance that just about stays the right side of madness. The film seemed less secure in its American sections. The road meandered a little too much and the drama lost a degree of focus. But it’s a very impressive, very original piece of work. You can all see it late next month.

  

• Nuala and DFCC at JDIFF

  February 24, 2012 @ 10:50 pm | by Donald Clarke

  A particularly busy festival grinds towards its close this weekend. We enjoyed the rush and the run. There were plenty of good films and the guests were starrier than ever. I had a very nice night this evening. I got to talk to Marjane Satrapi after the screening of Chicken With Plums, her rather lovely follow-up to Persepolis. I had never met Marjane before, but had been informed that she would give no trouble at all. This certainly proved to be the case. An absolute trooper, she gave good anecdote and confirmed that — in the nicest possible way — she takes absolutely no prisoners.

  As for Saturday, if you are not coming along to the Dublin Film Critics Circle awards at 5.30 in the IFI, try and get a ticket for Nuala: A Life and Death at the Light House. Narrated by my occasional colleague Marian Finucane, the film (to be shown soon on RTÉ) is an impossibly moving study of the life of the indomitable Nuala O’Faoláin. The excerpts from her last interviews with Marian are nearly unbearable and the contributions from her family and friends are consistently touching. The picture also features some amusing insights into the colorful world of Bohemian Dublin in the 1960s. If you can’t make it along don’t miss it on the telly.

  All are welcome at the DFCC event. It generally proves to be a an entertaining, low-key, festive affair.

• Still alive at JDIFF

  February 22, 2012 @ 9:38 pm | by Donald Clarke

  I suppose, in addressing the highlights of my week, I can hardly avoid mentioning that I had a nice chat with Al Pacino yesterday. You can read the interview on Saturday, so I won’t bothering going into too much detail here. I will, however, point out that he was a real gent. He was happy to natter about all the old stuff and seemed very at home to a bit of self-deprecation. The levels of fame that still gather round Pacino are something to behold. Ever play that game “Who would you be in…”? The notion is that, when gathered in the pub, you and your friends discuss, erm, who you would be in, say, Dad’s Army, Reservoir Dogs or Cheers. When playing the Godfather version of the game, everyone wants to be Michael, but most folk know, deep in their sad hearts, that they’re really Fredo. No wonder Al is still such an idol.

  One of the year’s best films was screened yesterday. I have been going on about Markus Schleinzer’s Michael for the last eight months. But the more I think about it the more impressive it seems. This is the Austrian picture about a pedophile who keeps a boy imprisoned in his basement. It hardly needs to be said that the film does not count as light entertainment. But it offers a horribly plausible account of how such a relationship might progress. Undoubtedly some people will think the film in bad taste, but you can’t deny that Schleinzer has thought very deeply about his subject. I don’t envy him that experience. If you want to know more, my interview with Markus runs in The Ticket on Friday.

  Pondering what’s still to come, I enthusiastically suggest that you try to get a ticket for The Raid on Saturday morning. It’s the best Indonesian film you’ll ever see that’s been directed by a Welshman. The good people of the Dublin Film Critics Circle, already pondering their awards, were blasted into oblivion by it. Oh, yeah!

  

• The Dublin Film Critics Circle hands out its gongs

  February 27, 2011 @ 1:22 pm | by Donald Clarke

  Last night, in what is fast becoming an amiable tradition, the good people from the Dublin Film Critics Circle gathered to hand out their awards for the James Dublin International Film Festival. Ms Tara Brady, president of that august body, was on hand to break a bottle of champagne (surely Irish whiskey) over the vessel and welcome Mr Gavin Burke as this year’s appointed host. The sponsors’ products were swilled back at the Irish Film Institute, while high quality jokes were delivered comparing our poll to another being counted elsewhere in the nation.

  

  Voting members show off their high brows. L to R: Mr Paul Lynch, Mr Gavin Burke, Ms Tara Brady.

  Brian Jennings,partner of the late Michael Dwyer, turned up to give out an award granted in our old friend’s name. The Michael Dwyer Discovery Award, instituted to acknowledge fresh new talent, went to the smart young people from Still Films. That company, a tightly run collective, has delivered a truly superb series of documentaries over the last few years. You may have seen Seaview, their picture set in the old Mosney holiday camp, or Pyjama Girls, a moving, funny study of life in Ballyfermot. Their latest film, Build Me Something Modern, doesn’t sound like an obvious idea for a doc — it’s an examination of modernist Irish architects’ experiences in Africa during the 1950s and 1960s — but it is handled with such verve that we felt no reluctance in giving them this year’s prize.

  

  L to R: Nicky Gogan and Maya Derrington from Still Films; Brian Jennings, the warm voice of RTE Radio News.

  The best Irish film went to Carmel Winters’s Snap. Other high quality domestic productions receiving prizes included Enda Hughes’s Men of Arlington, a touching documentary on the London Irish experience, and Juanita Wilson’s highly acclaimed As If I am Not There.

  The best film went to a terrific Austrian thriller entitled The Robber. There’s no sign of an Irish release yet, but the picture is picking up such buzz it will surely arrive in our shores before too long. If you caught it at the festival then award yourself a tot of your favourite domestic whiskey.

  Here are the awards in full:

  Best Film: The Robber

  Best Director: Aleksei Popogrebsky – How I Ended This Summer

  Best Irish Film: Snap

  Best Irish Director: Carmel Winters – Snap

  Best Cinematography: Tim Fleming – As If I Am Not There

  Best Screenplay: Medal of Honour

  Best Short: Kathy Brady – Small Change

  Best International Documentary: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

  Best Irish Documentary: Men of Arlington

  Best Debut: Philip Koch (Picco)

  Best Actor: Jacob Cadergren (Submarino)

  Best Actress: Martina Gusman (Carancho)

  Special Jury: Le Quattro Volte

  Michael Dwyer Discovery Award: Still Films