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Director
Jim Sheridan
Credits
Producers: Arthur Lappin, Jim Sheridan. Writers: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
Principal Cast
Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Gerard McSorely, Ian McElhinney
Category
Feature
An intense performance from Daniel Day-Lewis, here partnered with Emily Watson, returns Sheridan (and co-scriptwriter Terry George) to The Troubles in The Boxer. Unsettled by the more vicious attacks on In the Name of the Father, and the insistence of certain commentators on picking up on factual errors in the Guildford Four story, Sheridan decided to restrict himself to fictional material for his next work, which is set in Peace Process Belfast. This was to be his most generic film to date. Boxing dramas have long been a staple of Hollywood cinema and often, as here, a way of exploring the problems of occupying a masculine role in an emasculated society. Another new development was to place the love story at the centre of the narrative. Although one of Sheridan’s least seen Irish productions The Boxer still earned Sheridan and Day-Lewis Golden Globe nominations for Best Director and Actor respectively.
Notes by Ruth Barton.
113 minutes, Ireland/USA, 1997, Colour
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME: MCGAHERN: SHORT STORIES (DOUBLE BILL) 13.20
BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY 11:00, 20:10
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: BEYOND THE AGGRESSIVES: 25 YEARS LATER 20.30
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: BUTCHES AND BOYS 18.15
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: OUTITUDE 13.30
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: SCANNÁIN SAPPHIC (IRISH LESBIAN SHORTS) 15.30
KIDNAPPED 14:30
LOVE LIES BLEEDING 16:10, 20:50
PERFECT DAYS 17:20
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN 11.30, 13.50, 18.30
THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE 11.20
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