Irish Film Festival (Ottawa Canada-March 31-April 2, 2017)

[Chris Knipp]

You got it.

[Johann]

Handsome Devil (dir. John Butler/2016)

This was a crowd-pleaser. I loved it, and I'm pretty sure everybody in the audience loved it.
A very human movie. Surprisingly brilliant. The only gay film I've seen that impressed me as much as this was gus van sant's Elephant. Or Total Eclipse with Leo DiCaprio and David Thewlis. There's nothing graphic here, just a dramatic story about Ned (Fionn O'Shea) and Conor and their headmaster Walter and teacher Dan and rugby.

The director was on skype afterwards- it's a great way to interact with the crowd. I asked him a question. Will talk about that in a minute.(My only question to all the directors). This film has a chariots of fire quality, an Irish ivy league emotional drama, with humour. We were told that the actor who plays Conor (Nicholas Galitzine) was deemed "too beautiful" and the director almost didn't hire him. What surprised me was seeing that portraying youth struggling with sexuality can be done with great taste and sensitivity. In such a way to strip prejudice. You feel empathy for what's going on, gay or straight. It's human, it's well acted, it's effective and very dramatic. It's well shot, with a fabulous soundtrack. Which is what my question was about. I asked about the poster on Ned's wall. It was a provocative image from the band Suede, which I like. A character rips the poster off the wall. I asked the director if it was a rare Suede poster. He said yes, and that the band agreed to let him use it. He said he badly wanted to use the Smiths, but he was turned down. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. This festival was only six films, but it was great.

[Johann]

Chris, what did you think of the homophobic coach?

[Johann]

The films varied from character study to children's fare to powerful documentaries to engaging humanist stories. I spoke with the organizers and I suggested they keep up the same quality of films, and maybe one year show Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. It would fit perfect with the Irish theme.
Before Dance Emergency was screened we were given some Irish language, and if anyone wished to learn to speak it could find out how after the movie.
You could buy cans of Guinness, and glasses of wine and overall it was great.
I intend to cover it every year if it's the same type of festival. If it happens to get bigger (and why not? The Irish are amazing!) then obviously the arts court theatre would have to go. Bigger digs would be required. Ireland may not be cranking out the cinema like other countries, but what they do put out is quality stuff.

[Johann]

I should add that the big scene where the teacher explodes on the students about "being someone else" was great. And having the revelation later...wowza. But that's life, isn't it.
Protecting yourself is a theme, and it's one that could be life changing.
I also couldn't stop looking at Ned's posters of Dita von Teese...

[Johann]

I have to thank two ladies who kindly introduced themselves and put on a great 3rd Irish film fest:
Eithne Considine Shankar and Michelle Branigan.

More info can be found here:
www.irishfilmfestivalottawa.ca

[Chris Knipp]

I'll keep in mind the Irish War of the Buttons, and Atlantic.
My review of Handsome Devil was in my coverage of a pretty small film festival, the San Francisco Mostly British one. I liked the treatment of Get Real, another British gay coming of age story, a bit better. I notice I just rewatched The Perks of Being a Wallflower with its great perofmrnaces by Logan Lerman in the lead as the green straight freshman and Ezra Miller as the gay senior who befriends him - and that also incidentally includes the secondary plot line of a more out gay guy (Miller's character) who's involved with a closeted football star. It seems to have become a common trope.

The dance film made me think of one we saw in the Rendez-Vous Lincoln Center French film sereis this Feb., Dancer, , about the turn of the century Paris star from America Loïe Fuller, who we also had never heard of.

Total Eclipse was amazing - Leo DiCaprio so completely fearless as shown there. But there are a number of good gay coming of age movies, my favorite being Davod Moreton's Edge of Seventeen - not to be confused with a new movie The Edge of Seventeen, no connection. It came out in 1998, but it was reissued on Blu-ray last year. Moreton's film shows what the others lack. It fills in the whole period and milieu, the relation with the parents, and the support group at the local gay bar, and it realistically shows the sex - as does Andre Techine's excellent gay coming of age film of last year, Being 17. Sex is where straight treatments of gay coming of age usually draw the line. The Norwegian TV serie "SKAM's" great 3rd season gay love story is a global hit. And it's actors are hugely appealing and real. But while there's tons of kissing, nothing happens below the neck.

[Johann]

Thanks for the additional info. Always good.
About the tight-lipped-ness of the story of Handsome Devil...You're right.
I had no clue this was a gay film until what, 30-45 minutes in? I knew Ned was probably gay, with his "artistic" and actually cool wall adornments. I just thought Conor was a pretty boy Jock who might become friends with Ned, but not romantic with him. So, when I realized what it was I was surprised but not mad. I was just like "Oh, so that's where this is headed..."

There are some good scenes here, and that's why I loved it. The subject matter wasn't my thing, but I was amused and entertained by the whole enterprise. The director told us that for the rugby scenes he had a real rugby coach show the actors and actual school rugby players (who played the players in the movie) how to play, and that the first time they did a run-through the coach took 5 of the players off the field and told the director: "Those guys can't play. They are terrible. It won't show up onscreen" It turns out they were all the lead actors! So they had to be taught how to be "action-savvy" as rugby players onscreen...John Butler the director actually went to that school, so he had access to everything to film. Lucky Guy...He also said an old teacher wouldn't talk to him, gave him the cold shoulder...

[Chris Knipp]

I knew it was a gay film going into it and I had other gay films, especially the British one I mentioned, in mind, but this was a bit too buttoned down to me. It didn't have the emotional heft it could have had. Still we have to think of the target audience, in Ireland, where it may have considerable impact for some who need this story.

[Johann]

this was a bit too buttoned down to me. It didn't have the emotional heft it could have had. it may have considerable impact for some who need this story.

Agreed. And good point about the intended audience...