Sir, – I read with interest (personally and professionally) the recent Irish Times film reviewers' top 50 films of 2019 ("The best 50 films of 2019: Odd, rich, startlingly varied. And brilliant", Culture, December 8th). The Top 10 were: Monos, Marriage Story, Midsommar, If Beale Street Could Talk, Her Smell, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Birds of Passage, Madeline's Madeline, Pain and Glory, and Bait.
The list contained some very fine movies indeed, and most of which I have enjoyed and appreciated.
However, I also read the list of the top 10 movies ranked per Irish cinema audience attendances up to that date (The Lion King, Toy Story 4, Avengers: Endgame, The Joker, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Downton Abbey, Captain Marvel, Aladdin, Frozen 2, and Dumbo).
The fact that there isn't a single family movie (and only one animated movie) in The Irish Times top 50 films of the year highlights how disconnected the film reviewers seem to be from the tastes and interests of Irish audiences (some of whom we must assume are also Irish Times readers).
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While I am not of course suggesting these should or could mirror each other, it is somewhat perplexing to me that there is not one single crossover movie which appears in both top 10s.
Surely it should not be too much to hope or expect that there might perhaps be even one movie on the Irish public's top 10 which The Irish Times film reviewers (while not able to include in their top 10) might have deemed worthy of inclusion in The Irish Times top 50?
It would be intriguing to learn if the Irish Times film reviewers (or The Irish Times) see the extent of the disconnect between their taste and that of the Irish public to be in any way troubling? – Yours, etc,
TRISH LONG
General Manager,
Disney (Ireland),
Fitzwilliam Square,
Dublin 2.