Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Kings

    • Director

      Tom Collins

    • Credits

      Producer: Tom Collins, Jackie Larkin. Writer: Tom Collins

    • Principal Cast

      Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly, Brendan Conroy

  • Category

    Feature
    Irish Language
    Literature

An eloquent drama about lives that dwindled away, Kings shifts between the Irish and English language as it sees five immigrants from the Connemara Gaeltacht confronted with the poverty of their lives in London when the sixth of their number, Jackie, is found dead on a railway-line. Construction boss Joe (Colm Meaney) battles a cocaine addiction whilst down-and-out friends Jap (Donal O’Kelly) and Git (Brendan Conroy) battle a habit of their own: alcoholism, a problem destroying the marriage of another of their gang, Máirtín (Barry Barnes). Only small businessman Shay (Donncha Crowley) seems to have his life in order. As the five prepare for Jackie’s funeral their nostalgia for Ireland and their complicity in what was likely Jackie’s suicide emerges. Noteworthy for its uncommon but plausible linguistic palette, Kings is developed from a play by Jimmy Murphy and enacts a painfully honest representation of the lives of five Irish immigrants.

Awards:
Best Supporting Actor (Brendan Conroy) Award at the 5th Irish Film and Television Awards 2008.
Best Editing Award at the 5th Irish Film and Television Awards 2008.
Best Original Score Award at the 5th Irish Film and Television Awards 2008.
Best Sound Award at the 5th Irish Film and Television Awards 2008.
Special Irish Language Award at the 5th Irish Film and Television Awards 2008.

85 minutes, Ireland/United Kingdom, 2007, Colour

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