REVIEW: The Stag (2014)

The Stag has been getting a lot of attention in the Irish press because it seems to be one of the most patriotic Irish films made in recent years. This is an Irish film that is not about the Troubles, is not sombre about Ireland’s past or particularly worried about the Ireland’s current problems – failing banks and Church scandals. The characters are the kind of characters that would appear in a Woody Allen film if he ever included Dublin as part of his European tour. But does that make it any good?

Fionnan (Hugh O’Conor - the kid from Lamb) is getting married to Ruth (Amy Huberman) and is getting seriously involved with the wedding planning. Ruth thinks that he needs a break and that the wedding planner needs some peace, so she enlists Fionnan’s best friend Davin (Andrew Scott) to convince Fionnan to go away on a stag. He succeeds, and their friends Simon (Brian Gleeson) and the Kevins (Michael Legge and Andrew Bennett) agree to come as well. However, Ruth insists that they invite her brother The Machine (Peter MacDonald), despite the fact that everyone thinks he is a total eejit. They are desperate to avoid him but are ultimately forced to take him along. Comedic reversals and complications ensue.

The Stag is gleefully conventional and it feels very much like a Hollywood film. The six men each have their problems – all of which are resolved by the end of the film with a little help from their friends – but the film is far too optimistic to get bogged down with these. The overall impression of The Stag is of a film that is trying to brighten what can often be a rather dark national cinema and an even darker national psyche. The majority of the film is concerned with The Machine’s unorthodox attempts to help these five men learn to love life (and being Irish) again, learning some of his own lessons in the process. His success and his speech at the big wedding that finishes the film suggesting that we should forget about the banks and the Church and revel in being Irish and having a good time, have allowed suggestions that The Stag is that rarest of Irish films, a patriotic film. This, sadly, is unconvincing, since the wedding is so tacky, so cheesy that it can only be dismissed, an awkward attempt at heartfelt grand statements that fails to chime with the rest of the film. It is all too clear that, while they may have fun at this wedding, tomorrow they will be back worrying about their troubled love lives and serious financial debt. It is also a bit of a cheat, especially the fact that the lonely and heartbroken Davin manages to get a plus one for the wedding but we are never told who she is and the camera awkwardly avoids giving her a close-up. Meanwhile the issue of Fionnan’s dad’s (John Kavanagh) homophobia and his refusal to accept the two Kevins – one of whom is his son – is cleared up much too easily.

However, although the film’s message is unconvincing, it is pleasingly entertaining and pleasantly honest in its emotions – at least until the wedding scenes. There is a great moment, surprising in its length, in which Davin tearfully sings Patrick Kavanagh’s poem “On Raglan Road”, the lyrics clearly meaning a lot to him. Director John Butler holds the camera on him, on a close-up, only rarely and briefly cutting away, and allows the poem – sung almost in its entirety – and Scott’s performance to speak for themselves. It is a surprisingly artistic moment in a film that would have otherwise not been too far away from an irritating Apatow film. In other words, despite the obvious clichés and the tacky, unconvincing sentimentality of the film’s final moments, the film is actually refreshingly heartfelt.

As for the comedy, the film is knowingly contrived in the kind of way that would seem lazy if you weren’t prepared to just go with it. It isn’t particularly funny, though there are a few laughs. It is likable as light entertainment – being more fun than funny – and it has a pleasing lightness of touch, that gestures towards serious problems in a way that marks them out for seriousness without allowing them to overwhelm what is essentially a happy film about overcoming failure and resolving one’s confused take on modern masculinity. As poor as the wedding scenes are, by the time we reach them the film has built a certain degree of good will, so that what would be awful in a lesser film is merely awkward here.

The Stag is surprisingly likable with good performances that make up for a somewhat lazy script. It is nice to see an Irish film being optimistic for once, even if the film’s final moments would suggest that such hopefulness requires you to live in an extreme state of denial. And while this kind of light entertainment will most likely never attain the heights of the best Irish films, all of which is much darker (see Rocky Road to Dublin, In The Name of the Father, Garage, In Bruges and What Richard Did), it is nice to see Irish cinema being cheery and proud to be Irish for once.

See also: 

I Went Down

When Brendan Met Trudy

DVD REVIEW: I Went Down (1997)

Made in 1997, I Went Down is probably one of the first of the post-Tarantino Irish gangster comedies of which there are now way too many. Indeed, to watch I Went Down is to notice how similar it is to later films, such as Intermission and Perrier’s Bounty, in terms of tone and in terms of the characters. As the original though, I Went Down is still thoroughly entertaining.

Git Hynes (Peter MacDonald) is just out of prison and has nowhere to go. He meets up with an old friend Anto (David Wilmot) and is almost immediately caught up in an gang punishment. Protecting Anto from a violent gangster Johnner (Michael McElhatton), Git comes to the attention of boss Tom French (Tony Doyle). To make amends, he has to do a job. Teamed with one of French’s men, Bunny Kelly (Brendan Gleeson), Git and Bunny must drive to Cork in search of a man, Frank Grogan (Peter Caffrey), who has unfinished business with French. The job turns out to be much harder than it at first seemed.

In its opening moments, I Went Down feels like a typical Irish gangster comedy, with a luckless lead character, a typical role for Brendan Gleeson, some comically inept villains and an off-kilter tone, which suggests folk songs and westerns. If Perrier’s Bounty and Jump hadn’t felt redundant and out of date before, they certainly do now. Furthermore, it all only goes to show how great In Bruges had been, that, despite all the typical trappings, it had succeeded in being thoroughly unique and subtly serious. Having said that, while Perrier’s Bounty, Jump and ultimately, despite it being a hit, The Guard are cinematic dead-ends, I Went Down deserves a bit of praise for being the first, for being funny and for not being hopelessly dated – after all, in 1997, I Went Down was only the Irish equivalent of a raft of American indie crime comedies all inspired by Tarantino. So while it isn’t groundbreaking in the same way that Rocky Road To Dublin and Poitín were/are, it was a welcome break from troubled history stories like the previous year’s Michael Collins, Some Mother’s Son and The Boxer. I Went Down shows Irish cinema trying to get away from The Troubles and become a part of the film movements of the time. Finally, Irish cinema was allowing itself to have fun.

Ultimately, the main appeal of I Went Down is that it is fun. The plot unravels well and the pace is quick, it doesn’t waste any time and it is consistently funny. Brendan Gleeson is always a joy to watch and though Peter MacDonald’s brand of doe-eyed naïveté never really caught on (see also When Brendan Met Trudy), it is endearing here. There is also a slightly serious undertone to the film in that Git is frequently worried that he is involved in something that might lead to murder. There is a certain morality at play here, which is too often missing in American or British gangster films that often mistake cruelty for cool. In keeping with this, nearly every character is given some sort of distinguishing characteristic or even a degree of likeability. This unwillingness to be cold-hearted adds to the fun, but it also ensures that you can watch I Went Down without getting a bad taste in your mouth. This lightness of touch feels distinctly Irish, as if the film is a bit of craic and anything too dark or violent will only ruin the fun. This is hardly a flawless framework for future films (witness I Went Down director Paddy Breathnach’s subsequent Man About Dog) but done well, it can work simple wonders.

As far as flaws go, there are few that matter – only the dull pair of female characters that the film itself can barely be bothered with (what else is new?) and an out of place conversation at the fade-out. This review will be shorter than usual because, simply, there isn’t much else to say about I Went Down other than to repeat that it is good, undemanding light entertainment.

REVIEW: When Brendan Met Trudy (2000)

  When Brendan Met Trudy is a 2000 Irish film and very much a product of the Celtic Tiger, an anything-can-happen mess of a movie that plays with everything from conventional characterization to genre, perspective and homage.

  Brendan (Peter MacDonald of I Went Down and Nora) is a Godard-loving schoolteacher and choir singer. He is uptight, reserved and shy. Nothing seems to interest him very much and he has reverted so far into his shell that even casual situations involving other people become embarrassing disasters. He meets Trudy (Flora Montgomery of Goldfish Memory) in a pub and their instant attraction changes Brendan forever.

  Director Kieron J Walsh (this year's Jump) and writer Roddy Doyle (whose screenplay credits also includes the adaptations of his ‘Barrytown Trilogy’ – The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van) have fashioned a freewheeling and genre-bending romcom that is as much a love letter to cinema as it is a story about Brendan and Trudy. As a result, it is a mess. First of all, the film is without a clear narrative line. A strange subplot that threatens to throw the whole film in a more Suspicion-like direction is dispensed with almost as quickly as it is introduced. Worse still is a subplot about an African prince, one that is totally out of place. Similarly, Brendan is far from a carefully thought out character. He seems to climb in and out of his shell whenever the story requires him to. Worse off, however, is Montgomery, saddled with a character that flips from the movie-typical kooky and energetic city girl to psycho killer to burglar to begrudging and vulnerable innocent. You never really get a sense that Trudy cares all that much about Brendan, so much so that you watch the film and wait for the story to take a dark turn, like the wholly predictable An Education. Brendan and Trudy do not go through any real change (let’s ignore that silly word ‘arc’), as they remain as indefinable and unknowable as they did at the beginning. As a result, the film is fairly incomprehensible and inconclusive, albeit light and often fun.

  The film captures a time and place, powered as it is by the same feelings of excitement and prosperity that imbued Celtic Tiger Ireland. Because anything could apparently happen in Ireland then, the film frequently jumps into Godard homage with a comedic recreation of the famed Champs d’Elysses scene from A bout de soufflé. Walsh takes the excitement of the French New Wave and creates an Irish film that is somewhat rare, one that is actually happy to be Irish – not unlike Gerard Stembridge’s Rashomon-esque ­About Adam from the same year. Staying with the Godard strain within the film, the film is ultimately an exercise in cinematic style, one that thanks Godard for breaking the rules without considering what he broke them for. Like early Tarantino, it is style for style’s sake. Problematically, the film has very little to say.

  Watching it now, with Ireland back in the grips of a bad economy, the film seems so naively optimistic. It becomes lovable in its obsolescence and touch bittersweet. However, that said, the film can be a lot of fun, with even the abandoned Suspicion subplot rewarding patience with a very good, though belated, punch line. It is a mess and it goes absolutely nowhere, it is a funny and endearing trip.