An extraordinarily tight and stylish thriller/ironic love story with an unexpected twist, The Crying Game returns to themes Jordan explored in Angel (Northern Ireland) and Mona Lisa (contemporary seedy London). This powerful film, which reworks Frank O’Connor’s short story ‘Guests of the Nation’ and Brendan Behan’s play The Hostage, has Fergus (Stephen Rae) attempt to disengage from the IRA following his encounter with Jody (Forest Whitaker), a black British soldier whom the IRA have taken as a hostage. Fergus subsequently moves to London where he tracks down Jody’s mysterious and beautiful girlfriend Dil (Jaye Davidson), with whom he becomes involved. Fergus is never completely out of the IRA, whose operatives try to draw him back into the fold. Though Jordan’s play with sexual and gender politics earned him some criticism, The Crying Game became the most commercially successful foreign film released in the USA. It was one of the first films shown at the IFC, where it received its Irish premiere in October 1992.
U.K., 1992. Colour. Anamorphic. Dolby stereo SR. 112 mins.