“These films, short as they are, show a lot of imagination and talent.”
The suite of stories in ABODE are “moving, heartfelt and always underpinned by a wry observational humour”.
“Sunphlowers is not exactly a ‘geezer pleaser’ but it does have something in common with the more easygoing, old dog, new tricks, feel of those films.”
Gar O’Rourke’s “Sanatorium” is Ireland’s entry for best international feature film for the next Academy Awards.
Co-writers Dave Minogue and John Doran “draw more out of the premise with pathos than they would with straight laughs and heartstring tugging”.
“That there’s some acknowledgement of dark things on the edge of the frame, in the moments between the smiles, makes Ross Whitaker’s film” worth a watch.
Filmmaker Sarah Share’s “The Graceless Age: The Ballad of John Murry” tells the story of the Mississippi-born musician, who is now living in Ireland.
It’s from Darren and Colin Thornton, the sibling team behind 2016’s “A Date for Mad Mary”, “one of the truly great Irish films of the last 10 years”.
And as the same horrors appear again and again, attention and scarewithall wanes.
“The impression is that the world has flipped upside-down. That the past, present and future aren’t as separate as we like to believe.”
“Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story” is playing in theatres from 31 January.
This “briskly paced, Irish-language sports film focusing on naomhóg racing” is “an underdog story that breezes past a lot of the generic formula”.
