Cool News
Ere ya go wit anudder THE GENERAL review!
Will Boorman's film play into the Oscar scenario later this year? I don't know.. I haven't a clue, but I've been a hearing that sort of talk... When does this get American Distribution? Anyone know? Here's Red's review all the way from that Green Island on the far side of the Atlantic...
Name's Red and I ain't from round your parts. I hail all the way from
the Emerald Isle, land of Guinness, rolling hills, wild red-haired
lasses and snaggle-toothed village idiots (or so the movies would have
us believe). I don't usually have much to contribute to your pages due
to the fact that advance screenings in Ireland are virtually
non-existant and any that do occur are several months after the US
release.
However, one movie seems to have slipped through the net as your website
doesn't seem to have a review. I refer to John Boorman's movie 'The
General' about the life of Dublin gangster Martin Cahill, for which he
scooped best director in Cannes. I don't know if it's been released in
the US yet but due to its Irish theme it was seemingly released here
before anywhere else.
I'm usually too bone lazy to even contemplate actually sending e-mail
(plus i'm doing this during office hours and cautiously looking out for
my boss lurking nearby)) but I felt my review would be of interest as
none other than Kevin Spacey has been spotted in our fair land scouting
for locations to make a movie about the aforementioned General. This
move has brought John Boorman's previously ignored movie into the
limelight and begs the question 'Why the hell would somebody make the
same film twice (a la Robin Hood (X2), Christopher Columbus (X2), bloody
great asteroid hits Earth (X2))?
Ah, but Kevin assures us that he does not intend the facts to get in the
way of a good story and, apart from a couple of real-life heists (so
gloriously film-worthy that only a complete moron (or John Badham) would
omit them) the movie will be fiction.
So, where does this leave 'The General'? Well I'm under no illusion that
Kevin's movie will look flash, will more likely than not contain several
'Oirish' cliches (check out scenes of consumption of Guinness in dimly
lit bars), and makes stacks of money. On the other hand It may well turn
out to be a quality movie but either way it will almost certainly
overshadow John Boorman's movie.
All of which is a great pity because 'The General' is a movie of rare
quality, combining perfect direction, acting and scriptwriting.
The true-life story, to fill in the unaware, is about Martin Cahill, a
notorious gangster who terrorised Dublin in the early 1990s. He rose
from a poverty stricken family background through petty crime to become
an eccentric crime-lord, prone to paranoia, obsessive secrecy and
outbursts of extreme violence. Despite his actions he became a sort of
anti-hero to the lower classes as he struck against the rich people in
and around Dublin. Combined with this he was a genuinely likeable
character, a gentle pigeon fancier and kind to his family (although in a
bizarre real-life twist he bedded his sister-in-law-with his wifes
consent!) His constant upstaging of the police force and his refusal to
cooperate with paramilitary organisations (not advisable)delighted many
who turned a blind eye to his more cruel misdemeanors and treated him as
a sort of folk hero.
Throw in the outstandingly audacious robberies and his eventual demise
at the hands of an IRA assassin and you seem to have all the ingredients
for a good movie
And that is exactly what John Boorman has done making this his best
movie since 'Deliverance'. Making a brave decision, the movie is shot in
grainy black and white which adds an air of authenticity but ultimately
contributed to its poor commercial success here.
The direction is neither showy nor partcularly inventive, but the slow,
lingering pace which Boorman allows to develop helps the characters
flesh out beautifully and makes us care what happens to them.
And in the title role Boorman has extracted an utterly outstanding
performance from Brendan Gleeson (last seen as Mel Gibson's mate Hamish
in Braveheart). Gleeson takes a difficult, ambiguous character and makes
us empathise with him and support him in one instant and then revile him
a moment later as his cruel streak is shown. He looks and acts exactly
like Cahill especially in the courtroom scenes in which he delights in
throwing the court in chaos (a la Larry Flynt). Perhaps the audience is
invited to like him a little too much as he was definitely no saint, but
then I suppose that depends on the individual viewer.The supporting
characters are uniformly excellent including Adrian Dunbar (from my home
county, Fermanagh)as Cahill's stressed out best friend and not least Jon
Voight as the policeman chasing Cahill. I mean what the hell is this guy
doing making shite like Anaconda? He plays Cahill's nemesis superbly,
just an ordinary man who takes no real pleasure in tracking Cahill or
his eventual death. And he has a REAL Irish accent as opposed to the
Tom Cruise variety (Yer a corker, Shannon - Ugh!) I mean, what the hell
is a corker, why is Shannon one and who the hell told Thomas that Irish
people said that? Any self-respecting Irish person saying that would be
dealt with harshly and no mistake! But I digress....
The point is that Voight's quiet, understated performance perfectly
complements Gleeson's portrayal of an ambiguous soul.
All in all what we have is an excellent movie, unjustly ignored on its
theatrical release here and refreshingly free of any judgemental
comments on 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland. Make sure it does not
fall foul of a similar fate in the US
Until we meet again
Slante.
-
+ Expand All
-
While Spacey was in Ireland he tried to join up with a Country Club (you know golf, gym that sort of stuff) but was turned down because nobody at reception knew who he was!
-
I thought I was the only Irish person who came to this site. Nice to know I'm not alone! Well, like most people in my fair (actually, filthy, smoggy, free of lepreachan, budweiser, no guinness drinking etc) land, I saw the General. Great show. It's coming out on video here in 2 weeks time, so people with contacts in Ireland may be able to get a hold of it. I recommend you do - this is real Oscar-worthy material, and why it's never been released in the states is beyond me. I'm dreading the Kevin Spacey version though! Prepare for horrible accents, inappropriate, cheesy moralising, pointless changes in the plot etc. Why are they making an Americanised version of it anyway? Released this movie in colour (it was shot in both b/w and in colour, but was released over here in b/w), hype it up a bit, and it would be a hit in the states. Sorry if this post is a bit rambling - I just found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow and I'm trying to run away before the leaprachan wakes up.
-
I would have credited Kevin Spacey, who is a fine actor, with more sense and even intelligence than to make a heavily fictionalised version of a story that has already been filmed. After all, why not just invent a entirely imaginary gangster, especially if, as is feared, the Oirish cliches will be poured forth like so many frothing pints of Caffrey's in a twee `Irish' pub?
I have an acquaintance who could be in something of a quandry if Spacey's film goes ahead, because she's a devoted fan of his work but Irish-American -- and wise enough, I think, to recognise Oirish blarney when she sees it (her mother was born in Dublin). -
You know, I don't think Jon Voight made a fool of himself starring in "Anaconda". I think he created an original or somewhat original character, like the Robert Shaw in addition to the cool anaconda visuals. However, it's probably the script that made the movie so routine and so much like a b-movie. Maybe Jon Voight's villain should have belonged in a more developed and scarier flic.
-
I don't know about releasing a colour print; one of my favourite aspects of the film was the desaturated look (which is reminiscent of the bizarre colour scheme in Deliverance. Boorman said that he didn't want to portray Cahill in a glamourous fashion (although he does to a certain extent): rather than a regular Hollywood hagiography, he wanted a complex portrait of criminality. The film can stand on its own: it just needs the right campaign.
-
Had a chance to catch this overrated film at the Fort Lauderdale film Festival last week and was I ever disappointed. Sure the black and white cinematography was great. ( Is that supposed to be attributed to the director or the cinematographer, cause this John Boorman fan can't see why he walked away with top honors at Cannes for this.)The acting was quite good overall. The accents were a bit difficult at times. But the bottom line is the story sucked. I read a review that compared this film to Godfellows and the Krays...C'mon. I love gangster films . Jon Voight is high on my list of actors (Runaway Train is my favorite performance of his), John Boorman has made some underrated films (Beyond Ragoon the most recent) Nice to see he now has a horribly overrated one coming out. By the way it'll never break 3 million on these shores, looking forward to what Kevin Spacey is doing on the subject.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Quint sees some DJANGO UNCHAINED footage at CANNES!!! -- 290 total posts 285 posts
- A Fire Definitely Rises In The New DARK KNIGHT RISES One Sheet!! -- 202 total posts 201 posts
- Tom Cruise Saddles Up For A Remake Of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN!! -- 102 total posts 100 posts
- Mark Millar Offers Some Interesting Insight Into The KICK-ASS Movie Sequel!! -- 77 total posts 77 posts
- "Some Men Are Coming To Kill Us. We're Going To Kill Them First." Teaser To SKYFALL! -- 245 total posts 77 posts
- "I Don't Remember An Episode." The Teaser For THE MASTER Is Here!! -- 146 total posts 65 posts
- Charlize Theron thinks it is pretty badass to be in a Ridley Scott Space Movie! PROMETHEUS featurette -- 86 total posts 61 posts
- When there’s no more room in Hell The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day will walk the earth. -- 48 total posts 48 posts
- When there’s no more room in Hell The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day will walk the earth. -- 48 total posts 48 posts
- Is Official!! BREAKING BAD’s Final Season Begins In Under Two Months!! -- 48 total posts 48 posts