Best of 2008 - Top Two!

The final part of the countdown then, and you may be wondering why I left the last two films to a separate post.

It's because I'm going to declare it a tie. I couldn't pick between the two so for the first time I'm declaring the film of the year to actually be two films.

They couldn't be further apart either.

On the one hand we have a two-and-a-half-hour, big budget, box-office smashing Hollywood blockbuster comic adaptation, which dominated the box office in 2008. In the other corner it's a low-budget, 80-minute, emotional drama based on a stage play which has yet to even find a cinema release in the UK.

In case you've not already guessed, the best two films of 2008 according to my humble viewing are Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT and Declan Recks' EDEN.

So there.

Best of 2008 (5-3)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

Almost at the top - here's the next few films in my countdown of the best fifty films of last year...

4 ATLANTIC
A short film by Conor Ferguson which I saw twice at last year's Cork festival and described previously as "three minutes of cinematic perfection".

3 JANEY MARY
From one heartbreaking Irish short to another. You probably remember I raved about this one at length.

Best of 2008 (10-6)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

Ooooh, we're in the top ten now. Are you getting excited yet?

9 HUNGER
Breathtakingly arty take on the Irish hunger strikes, centred around Michael Fassbender's towering performance as Bobby Sands.

Best of 2008 (15-11)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

12 A BLOODY CANVAS
Fascinating documentary about an incredible boxing match that took place on St Patrick's Day in Dublin during the Irish civil war.

Best of 2008 (20-16)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

20 WAITING FOR THE LIGHT
Ciarin Scott gives George Morrison the biography treatment - it's about time someone did. Talking of which, MISE EIRE is getting an anniversary screening at the Dublin Film Festival next month - buy a ticket now!

Best of 2008 (25-21)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

22 SHETLAND LONE STAR
Part of BBC's "Scotland's History" strand, this one-off documentary was a wonderfully entertaining look at the life and career of Thomas Fraser, a man who sung country songs in his spare time in a remote village in Shetland, only to become a country music star thirty years after his death.

Best of 2008 (30-26)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

30 IN BRUGES
Glad to see this one has been nominated at various awards as it's a terrific black comedy, in which hitmen Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson hide out in Belgium after a hit goes wrong. Marketed very badly, this should surely find a wider audience on DVD.

26 RED
Low-budget Jack Ketchum adaptation boasting a powerhouse performance by Scotland's greatest actor, Brian Cox.

Best of 2008 (35-31)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]


32 THE INHERITANCE
This low budget Scottish movie did well on the festival circuit and was a hit with me too. It's not without its flaws, although it's a rare example of a film that may actually benefit from TV over cinema. Watching the DVD on a modest-sized TV the limitations of the equipment were not so obvious as they were on the big screen and the film actually looks a lot better as a result.

31 KISSES
Two kids go on the run in Dublin and take the film's colour scheme with them. Visually inventive little gem of a film.

Best of 2008 (40-36)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

40 32A
Charming coming-of-age tale set in 1970s Dublin. Clearly a film for young girls, but what the hell, I liked it. Nominated for an IFTA Best Film award too, though I don't see it winning.

Best of 2008 (45-41)

[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]

43 THE MORSE COLLECTORS
Haunting Northern Irish short film which I saw at a couple of festivals in 2008.

Scottish film update (18 Jan)

Zero-budget critically-acclaimed Scottish film THE INHERITANCE is now available on DVD. I realise that this just looks like I've stolen this piece of news from the recent announcement on the Scottish Screen website, but for once I discovered it first. I just forgot to mention it. I've got my copy already, go here to buy yours.

There's a Gaelic-language film festival entitled "Film's Craic" at the CCA in Glasgow from Thursday 22nd to Saturday 24th January. It looks very interesting - the good news is that all events are free, the bad news is that you can't book any tickets, so I don't think I'll be making the trip.

Talking of Glasgow, there's another screening of THE NEW TEN COMMANDMENTS at the GFT on Sunday 25th January, with guests.

Irish film update (17 Jan)

Another brief round-up on the Irish movie front.

Are you familiar with the film THE LAST CONFESSION OF ALEXANDER PEARCE?

Nope, nor am I, since currently it's only popped up on RTE in Ireland. The film tells the true story of the Irishman who was transported to one of the most infamous prisons and ended up in the wilds of Australia indulging in cannibalism. The film is to be shown on BBC in the UK (no idea when - let me know if you find out) but in the meantime a documentary is being shown on the subject, on the History channel (UK). It's on Sunday 25th January at 9pm. And while you're on the History channel, watch out for a repeat of the two-part documentary FLEEING THE FAMINE, which has just been shown. Terrific, if somewhat depressing.

IFTN reports that Decklan Recks' EDEN has finally found a UK-based distributor. No word yet on when or if it will appear in UK cinemas, but wherever it appears, you should see it. It'll be appearing very high up my "Best of 2008" list, whenever I get round to writing it.

Talking of distribution, I also see from IFTN that someone has picked up the controversial and brilliant documentary FAIRYTALE OF KATHMANDU for US distribution. Quite right too.

IFTN also reports the nominations for the IFTA short film award. Particularly pleasing is that they're all films I've seen - can't say that ever happens at the Oscars. The films are AN RANGER (PJ Dillon), THE DOOR (Juanita Wilson), MARTIN (Sean Branigan) and OF BEST INTENTIONS (Brian Durnin). If I had to pick one, it'd probably prefer AN RANGER to win but to be honest they're all very good and I'm happy for all of them, whoever wins. I think THE DOOR will probably scoop it.

On the subject of short films, WALK ON BY (Tim Hannan) which I saw and very much enjoyed at Galway last year is now available on YouTube.

Well done also to Connor Clements who, I've just read in the press, has had his short film JAMES (another one I've mentioned here in the past) selected to screen at Sundance. Apparently it'll be available on iTunes during the festival as well, so watch out for that.

And finally, well done to Colin Farrell for winning an acting award at the Golden Globes for the terrific IN BRUGES. Normally I wouldn't even mention this, but he's the only thing that meant I made a profit when gambling on the awards (didn't think SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE would win quite as many as it did). Result.

Scottish & Irish film update (9 Jan)

I've seen a bunch of new releases that I've yet to write about; it's surely time for a "best of 2008" series of posts; the awards season is upon us, which means me losing lots of money making foolishly optimistic bets; but no, I've not yet got round to writing about any of that, so here's another of my semi-regular updates on developments in Scottish and Irish film.

In Ireland, the IFTAs are almost upon us - as I've mentioned though, I've not done anything about my stupid annual betting frenzy yet so that can wait. Here's hoping there are enough awards to go round HUNGER and IN BRUGES, but it would be nice to see a "smaller" film like KISSES or 32A take something.

Ciarin Scott's biopic of George Morrison, WAITING FOR THE LIGHT, which you've seen reviewed here at two different festivals, is now listed on the IMDB. Hurrah! Unlike MISE EIRE and SAOIRSE?, it didn't take my efforts to do so.

THE FORMORIAN, a splendid little short film which I saw way back at Cork 2007 is now available for viewing on the BBC's Film Network site, which I've mentioned here before. You can find a bunch of films from Scotland and Northern Ireland there.

Because I'm too lazy to have done my "Best of 2008" at the moment (I'll try to do it a bit sooner than October, unlike the best of 2007) I may as well point you in the direction of another blog with an Irish focus, the Cork-based The Stub, to which I'm a regular visitor. Like my own lists, you might agree or disagree but will at least get a list of top films that is probably more interesting than the mainstream ones you'll be seeing in all your popular movie magazines and websites.

As for Scotland...

Well, I mentioned above that you can see a bunch of Scottish short films on the BBC Film Network site.

There's a double bill of films by American-born-but-really-he's-a-Scot Alexander Mackendrick this Sunday afternoon at the Cameo cinema in Edinburgh. On show will be the Scots-focused WHISKY GALORE (based on Compton MacKenzie's novel, which was in turn based on real events that happened on the island of Eriskay), paired with the entirely different but absolutely excellent SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, in which Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster play a pair of sleazy gossip columnists. You really need to see this film if you haven't already done so.

THE ST KILDA TAPES will be returning to the GFT on Monday 19th January and will also be popping up at Filmhouse the day before that.

If you've not been watching anything in BBC's season Scotland's History, you should. I am assuming this has been timed to coincide with Scotland's first ever Homecoming Year. Aside from the flagship series (the breath-taking A HISTORY OF SCOTLAND), they've been putting out some brilliant documentaries so far - THATCHER & THE SCOTS, SHETLAND LONE STAR, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ROBERT BURNS and THE ADVENTURES OF DON ROBERTO.
The brilliant Gaellic feature SEACHD: THE INACCESSIBLE PINNACLE has been showing several times on BBC Alba. If you've missed all the screenings so far, fret not - there's another one on the 11th January at 17:00. Set your recorders now.

In fact, keep an eye on BBC Alba's schedules as it's turning into THE place to find some really fascinating Scottish documentaries.

Talking of Gaellic stuff, there's a three day festival called FILM's CRAIC at the CCA in Glasgow later this month which will be showing lots of it, mainly the sort of stuff on BBC Alba and STV's Gaellic programming, with some special events thrown in. It might be worth a look.

That's all for now.

A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN (1977)

Director Joseph Strick had already received some acclaim/notoriety with a cinema adaptation of ULYSSES when he turned his hand to another of Joyce's works, A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN. I have the former in my collection but am saving it until after I've read the book (whenever that may be) so for now I decided to sample the latter.

Essentially a tale of a boy becoming a man, the scenes of the young boy's childhood are stale and lifeless. Even as he grows up the film only occasionally displays the odd burst of energy, despite the best efforts of Bosco Hogan as Dedalus, the title character and Joyce's alter ego.

The blame for this can perhaps be attributed to a few factors. For one thing, the UK DVD release isn't the most flattering - leaving aside the fact that it claims to be widescreen but isn't, the print is in less than stellar shape, with both picture and sound in need of a good clean-up.

Allowing for technical issues, the photography and set design still seems a little claustrophobic and drab - the film just rarely seems to come to life.

There are moments of joy - John Gielgud hams it up delightfully in the wonderful speech about the nature of hell - but ultimately the main problem is perhaps one of misplaced artistic integrity. It's a faithful adaptation for sure but one thing that struck me when I read the book recently and then approached the film is that the book is not even remotely cinematic.

In the end, the desire to remain truly faithful to a text - something few films ever come close to achieving - is admirable and definitely achieved. That unfortunately on this occasion may also be the film's undoing.