An Irish Education for Rachel
by fiona-gavin | created - 07 Jun 2012 | updated - 29 Jun 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
Not Rated | 127 min | Drama, War
Against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald
Votes: 54,554 | Gross: $1.83M
Great accents, great landscape, Cillian Murphy. What more could you want?
2.
Screen Two (1985–1998)
Episode:
The Snapper
(1993)
R | 91 min | Drama
20 year old Irish girl Sharon Curly lives at home with her large family. But notoriety in her neighbourhood suddenly arrives when, after a night out on the town, she becomes pregnant and refuses to divulge the identity of the baby's father.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Colm Meaney, Tina Kellegher, Ruth McCabe, Eanna MacLiam
Votes: 6,125 | Gross: $3.32M
oh, Jesus, weren't the 80s awful altogether.
3. The Commitments (1991)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne, Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Votes: 38,734 | Gross: $14.92M
ditto. Two parts of a trilogy, actually, based on books by Roddy Doyle of Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha fame
4. Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom (2003)
13 min | Comedy, Short
Is there a place in the world for Yu Ming? He's a clerk at a convenience store in China, bored with his life. At a library, he spins a globe and stops it with his finger, which turns out to... See full summary »
Director: Daniel O'Hara | Stars: Daniel Wu, Frank Kelly, Paddy C. Courtney, Richard Morton
Votes: 504
Might be hard to find. Youtube? Indeed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0a62wmd1A
5. Intermission (2003)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A variety of losers in Dublin have harrowingly farcical intersecting stories of love, greed and violence.
Director: John Crowley | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Kelly Macdonald, Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson
Votes: 16,580 | Gross: $0.90M
Very entertaining, good plot twists, full of sharp Dublin humor.
6. The Field (1990)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
When a field (which has been farmed by the McCabe family for generations) goes up for auction, the patriarch of the McCabe family will stop at nothing to prevent a rich American from buying it.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Richard Harris, John Hurt, Sean Bean, Frances Tomelty
Votes: 6,761 | Gross: $1.41M
If you wanna understand rural Ireland this is an absolute must. Based on a hugely successful film that was based on events in... County Kerry!
7. The Crying Game (1992)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 60,020 | Gross: $62.55M
Test: Name the applicable Father Ted Quote.
8. My Left Foot (1989)
R | 103 min | Biography, Drama
Christy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Kirsten Sheridan
Votes: 79,704 | Gross: $14.74M
9. Rory O'Shea Was Here (2004)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
When the kinetic Rory moves into his room in the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, his effect on the home is immediate. Most telling is his friendship with Michael, a young man with cerebral palsy and nearly unintelligible speech. Somehow, Rory understands Michael, and encourages him to experience life outside the confines of home.
Director: Damien O'Donnell | Stars: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, Alan King
Votes: 16,020 | Gross: $0.02M
10. In America (2002)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama
A family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Hounsou, Sarah Bolger
Votes: 44,262 | Gross: $15.54M
Sad but uplifting tale of a family coming to terms with loss and making a new start. The two sisters are brilliant, and I absolute love the lead, Paddy Considine. Despite my intro, not at all lacking humour.
11. The Quiet Man (1952)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.
Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond
Votes: 42,374 | Gross: $10.55M
12. Perrier's Bounty (2009)
R | 88 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A gangster named Perrier looks to exact his revenge on a trio of fugitives responsible for the accidental death of one of his cronies.
Director: Ian Fitzgibbon | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Michael McElhatton, Don Wycherley
Votes: 7,431 | Gross: $0.00M
Not essential but entertaining.
13. Killing Bono (2011)
R | 114 min | Comedy, Music
Two brothers attempt to become global rock stars but can only look on as old school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world.
Director: Nick Hamm | Stars: Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan, Krysten Ritter, Ralph Brown
Votes: 6,699
ditto
14. In the Name of the Father (1993)
R | 133 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie, Philip King
Votes: 186,934 | Gross: $25.01M
I haven't actually seen this but apparently it amazeballs.
Watched it last night. Sob. Really brilliantly done though, great pace, dialogue and acting.
15. The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
R | 114 min | Drama
Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
Director: Peter Mullan | Stars: Eileen Walsh, Dorothy Duffy, Nora-Jane Noone, Anne-Marie Duff
Votes: 28,447 | Gross: $4.89M
Made for TV, not brilliantly made but interesting subject matter.
16. The Secret of Kells (2009)
Not Rated | 75 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A young boy in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids is beckoned to adventure when a celebrated master illuminator arrives with an ancient book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers.
Directors: Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey | Stars: Evan McGuire, Brendan Gleeson, Mick Lally, Christen Mooney
Votes: 38,248 | Gross: $0.69M
Gorgeous animation, slightly *beep* story, music by...KILA!
17. The Guard (2011)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
An unorthodox Irish policeman with a confrontational personality is partnered with an uptight F.B.I. agent to investigate an international drug-smuggling ring.
Director: John Michael McDonagh | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Ronan Collins
Votes: 95,547 | Gross: $5.36M
Bit of craic.
18. Angela's Ashes (1999)
R | 145 min | Biography, Drama
An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens
Votes: 23,228 | Gross: $13.04M
Oh, Jaysus, weren't the forties awful altogether.
19. At Swim-Two-Birds
Announced
A playwright's life begins to mingle with the fictional characters he has created.
CAN'T FREAKIN WAIT!!!
20. War of the Buttons (1994)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
The children of Ballydowse and Carrickdowse engage in battles in which they cut off the buttons, shoelaces, and underwear of their captured opponents, in order to get the boys in trouble ... See full summary »
Director: John Roberts | Stars: Gregg Fitzgerald, Gerard Kearney, Darragh Naughton, Brendan McNamara
Votes: 4,590 | Gross: $0.01M
Based on an early 20th Century French short story but the most retro Ireland movie ever. Fan feckin tastic!!! Strongly recommend.
21. In Bruges (2008)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Elizabeth Berrington
Votes: 461,086 | Gross: $7.76M
Other people like it.
22. A Film with Me in It (2008)
89 min | Comedy, Thriller
A broke, jobless actor and a broke, jobless screenwriter set out to make a movie and then find that life starts imitating art.
Director: Ian Fitzgibbon | Stars: Dylan Moran, Mark Doherty, Keith Allen, Amy Huberman
Votes: 3,937
Again, not essential viewing but a nice (very black) comedy
23. Stella Days (2011)
TV-14 | 100 min | Drama
A small town cinema in rural Ireland becomes the setting for a dramatic struggle between faith and passion, Rome and Hollywood and a man and his conscience.
Director: Thaddeus O'Sullivan | Stars: Martin Sheen, Stephen Rea, Trystan Gravelle, Marcella Plunkett
Votes: 473
Haven't seen this yet but it did well at Festivals.
24. Parked (III) (2010)
94 min | Drama
Fred Daly returns to Ireland with nowhere to live but his car. Then dope-smoking 21-year-old Cathal parks beside him and brightens up his lonely world. Encouraged by Cathal, Fred meets ... See full summary »
Director: Darragh Byrne | Stars: Colin Morgan, Colm Meaney, Milka Ahlroth, Stuart Graham
Votes: 2,745
ditto.
25. Adam & Paul (2004)
83 min | Comedy, Drama
2 heroin addicts negotiate their way through Dublin's city centre, encountering friends and family as they search for their next fix.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Tom Murphy, Mark O'Halloran, Gavin Dowdall, Luke Keeler
Votes: 3,300
Speaking of black humor
26. Into the West (1992)
PG | 97 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Grandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin. The horse is stolen from them, and the two young boys set out to find it and flee on it.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Ellen Barkin, Ciarán Fitzgerald, Rúaidhrí Conroy
Votes: 3,179 | Gross: $4.79M
Absolutely essential. It's a horse, Tayto, it's a horse! Learn about travelers!
27. Hunger (2008)
Not Rated | 96 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Irish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Laine Megaw
Votes: 73,518 | Gross: $0.15M
No craic, very intense, but beautifully made. Again, very interesting subject matter.
28. Some Mother's Son (1996)
R | 112 min | Drama, History
The 1981 hunger strike in an Irish prison, in which I.R.A. prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against their treatment as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. It focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle.
Director: Terry George | Stars: Helen Mirren, Fionnula Flanagan, Aidan Gillen, David O'Hara
Votes: 2,990 | Gross: $0.61M
More of a traditional style docu drama about Bobby Sands and the Hunger Strikers.
29. The Butcher Boy (1997)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The antisocial son of an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother grows up in 1960s Ireland.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Eamonn Owens, Alan Boyle
Votes: 11,455 | Gross: $1.82M
Disturbing.
30. Michael Collins (1996)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
Neil Jordan's historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Julia Roberts, Ian Hart
Votes: 33,729 | Gross: $11.09M
not forgetting the Big Fella
31. The General (1998)
R | 124 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The real-life story of Dublin folk hero and criminal Martin Cahill, who pulled off two daring robberies in Ireland with his team, but attracted unwanted attention from the police, the I.R.A., the U.V.F., and members of his own team.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Brendan Gleeson, Adrian Dunbar, Sean McGinley, Maria Doyle Kennedy
Votes: 9,236 | Gross: $1.21M
32. Garage (2007)
85 min | Drama
A tragicomedy set in the world of gas stations in rural Ireland, where over-diligent employee of the garage searches for intimacy during the course of a life-changing summer.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Pat Shortt, John Keogh, George Costigan, Anne-Marie Duff
Votes: 3,143
A surprise for the nation when ridiculous "comedy" actor Pat Short starred in this poignant indie comment on loneliness and isolation in the countryside. Painful to watch in parts.
33. Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
G | 93 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A wily old codger matches wits with the King of the Leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker.
Director: Robert Stevenson | Stars: Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery, Jimmy O'Dea
Votes: 9,357
Fantastic. Genius. Trippy horse psychedelics! A mad leprechaun King messing with the humans just for the craic of it! Full blown Irish dancing hoolie session in the Hall of the Little People! THE BEST SPECIAL AFFECTS OF THE 20th CENTURY!!!
34. Disco Pigs (2001)
TV-MA | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Pig and Runt - born on the same day, in the same hospital, moments apart. Twins, all but by blood.
Director: Kirsten Sheridan | Stars: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy, Sarah Gallagher, Charles Bark
Votes: 5,204
Cillian Murphy, in his first big role, stars in really quirky love story.
35. The Last of the High Kings (1996)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
After finishing exams June 1977 near Dublin, Frankie spends the summer with his two friends, siblings and mom while dreaming of two cute girls and waiting for exam results. College?
Director: David Keating | Stars: Catherine O'Hara, Jared Leto, Christina Ricci, Gabriel Byrne
Votes: 1,965
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