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Director
Jim Sheridan
Credits
Producers: Jim Sheridan, Edward Burke, Arthur Lappin. Writers: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
Principal Cast
Helen Mirren, Fionnula Flanagan, Aiden Gillen, Ciarán Hinds, David O'Hara
Category
Feature
Sheridan’s first collaboration with scriptwriter Terry George was on his second film about the Troubles, Some Mother’s Son. It was produced by Sheridan through his production company Hell’s Kitchen. A young Aiden Gillen plays the Christ-like hunger striker Gerard Quigley, but even more than in any of Sheridan’s preceding works, the focus of this film is on the suffering Irish mother. Two more strong performances see Helen Mirren and Fionnula Flanagan thrown together when their sons are interned in H-Block and discovering that they have more in common than they might have suspected. It is this relationship that carries the film, erupting in moments of unexpected humour as Mirren teaches Flanagan how to drive a car. This trait – of balancing tragedy with sentimentality and then segueing into laughter – had by now become a Sheridan trademark, allowing him to leaven political analysis with pure entertainment.
112 minutes, Ireland/USA, 1996, Colour
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME: MCGAHERN: SHORT STORIES (PROGRAMME 1) 13:10
EAT / SLEEP / CHEER / REPEAT 14.00, 20.40
HOARD 15.30, 18.00
LA CHIMERA 13:00, 18:10
LOVE LIES BLEEDING 16:00
ROME, OPEN CITY 20:55
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN 13:00
THE DAYS OF TREES 18.30 (+ Q&A)
TIGER STRIPES 15:45, 20:55
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