Travel

Films to stream right now: 10 great Irish movies

From The Young Offenders and Adam & Paul to The Lobster, Hunger and Barry Lyndon

The Young Offenders

Tara Brady's face
Tara Brady
Fri Apr 24 2020 - 06:00

THE YOUNG OFFENDERS (Peter Foott, 2016)
Two teenage nitwits (dynamic duo Alex Murphy and Chris Walley) cycle 160km on stolen bikes, pursued by not-much-brighter police, in search of a missing bale of cocaine worth €7 million. The movie that kickstarted Cork's most loved franchise. (Netflix)

BARRY LYNDON (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)

Barry Lyndon

The famously pernickety director insisted on up to 150 takes for several of the extraordinary shots in this 18th century tale of an Irish rogue (Ryan O’Neal) who gains and loses everything over the magical 187-minute run time. One of the greatest films ever made. (iTunes, Google Play)

THE LOBSTER (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015)
When his wife leaves him, David (Colin Farrell) is taken to a hotel and informed that he has 45 days to find a new partner. Otherwise, he'll be transformed into an animal of his choosing, namely the crustacean of the title. The film is as delightful as it is absurd. (iTunes, Google Play, Volta)

READ MORE

HUNGER (Steve McQueen, 2008)

Hunger

Tactile, apolitical, unforgettable dramatisation of the events around the Hunger Strikes, featuring an electrifying exchange between Michael Fassbender’s Bobby Sands and Liam Cunningham’s priest as they ponder the morality of Sands’ protest. (BFI Player)

ADAM & PAUL (Lenny Abrahamson, 2004)

Adam & Paul

The two drug addicts of the title, played by the late Tom Murphy and Mark O’Halloran (who wrote the keenly observed script) wander haplessly around Dublin, getting into various blackly comical scrapes, and trying to score. (Volta)

THE CRYING GAME (Neil Jordan, 1992)

The Crying Game

Jordan's Oscar-winning screenplay finds a fun, compelling intersection between politics, race and gender as an IRA man (Stephen Rea) tracks down the former lover of a British soldier (Forest Whitaker) he had previously hostage. Featuring that twist. (BFI Player, Amazon Prime)

THE FADING LIGHT (Ivan Kavanagh, 2009)
Two sisters (Valene Kane, Emma Eliza Regan) return to their childhood home to tend to their intellectually disabled brother (the fantastic Patrick O'Donnell) and their dying mother in Kavanagh's haunting family drama. (Volta)

ORDINARY LOVE (Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn, 2019)

Ordinary Love

Joan (Lesley Manville) and Tom (Liam Neeson) have lost a daughter but have built a content, married life together. Their world is rocked by a cancer diagnosis in this beautifully performed, elegantly composed and heartfelt film. (BFI Player, iTunes)

SILENCE (Pat Collins, 2012)
Spellbinding marriage of documentary and fiction as Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde's sound recordist, following some years in Berlin, returns home to remote Tory Island off the coast of Donegal where "the corn crake sings yet". (Volta)

MICHAEL INSIDE (Frank Berry, 2017)

Michael Inside

A Dublin teenager (Dafhyd Flynn) living in a housing estate with his grandad is caught hiding drugs for his friend’s older brother. A three-month prison sentence sends the youngster on a violent, downward spiral in this powerful film. (Netflix)