Did you people see the same film I saw?

Crappy film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I'd heard about this movie in an interview Emily Van Camp did at the time she joined the show Sons And Daughters,so when I saw it at my local Hollywood Video store on sale used for $5.99,I decided to pick it up,and boy,am I glad I did! This is a powerful and moving film about the disintegration of an Irish-American family in South Boston.First time director Brad Gann also wrote the screenplay and did a remarkable job.The performances by the actors playing the family are excellent to a one.Brendan Gleeson is magnificent as the Vietnam vet father,whose loss of work and descent into alcohol-fueled despair make him a shadow of the man who was.Melissa Leo as the Irish born mother(her brogue is perfect)clinging to faith and tradition shines.Emily Van Camp is great as the pregnant daughter who decides to go it alone.Tom Guiry shows both love and menace as the thuggish older brother.Michael Angarano,as the center of the film,younger son Cole who has baseball dreams is a revelation.10/10

This is simply one of the best films I've seen. It's not about adrenaline fuelled action or big set pieces. It's about real life and real people. And what makes this film work is the masterful directing and the first class acting.All the main cast members pull out great performances. Michael Angarano is terrific as the lead in a career defining performance. I agree with a previous reviewer about the emotional depth in his eyes and facial expressions which are both subtle and complex but always on the money.Many things I can relate to in this movie, it's quite tragic but warm and satisfying at the same time.Watch this movie if you like films that are more real and enjoy great acting and direction.

Black Irish is a view on the lives of a family over a period of some months. They struggle with each other over recognition, understanding, love, but always seem to fail. It could be any family, anywhere, with some bad luck. I wanted to give it a 10, but i rate too many 1's and 10's and so i try to think of reasons for deduction when i find something really good. So i came up with that this one deserves a 9 because there is no 'obvious' moralistic lesson in it. Then again, moral is subjective, so passing on this maybe i should give it extra credit, but i cant give an 11. Its just a family with bad luck.The acting of the non-celebrities is great, the story takes you into their lives, their hurt and leaves you wondering of your own family and all that ever happened.What is great about this one is that we are used to pick a bad guy, or woman, that you can put all the blame on. Hollywood usually helps steering you in doing so, but this time not. And that is more real than the designated bad man. One moment you think its the father being the bad man, then the mother, then the brother, or sister, but in the end they all do their little thing and just have or had bad luck. There is no bad man. No one is really to blame.And that is pretty insightful, yet difficult to understand, so i don't think a young audience would appreciate this movie. Its not a movie you walk away from with a smile on your face. Hence the title...Go see it.

BLACK IRISH is one of those little Independent films that manage to give more to the audience than the extreme constrictions of time and budget would suggest. Writer/director Brad Gunn (his first film) manages to tell a story about an Irish family from South Boston that is sincere, realistic, poignant, and profound, and though he worked with a small budget and a shooting schedule of 22 days, he has produced a fine little gem of a film.The McKay family has problems: father Desmond (Brendan Glesson) lacks work and spends most of his time drinking beer and watching baseball on TV, having been a promising baseball player as a youngster but nipped by the Vietnam War into glum lethargy; mother Margaret (Melissa Leo) resents the shadow of the man she married and works as a social worker to support her family; daughter Kathleen (Emily VanKamp) is pregnant, unwed, and when denied the choice of abortion by her mother's strong Catholicism is determined to have the child by herself, giving it the loving home she feels she has been denied; son Terry (Tom Guiry) is a tortured delinquent who is a gang member and always in conflict with the law; and youngest son Cole (the excellent young 20-year-old Michael Angarano of 'One Last Thing', 'Man in the Chair', 'Snow Angels', 'Lords of Dogtown', 'Seabiscuit', etc) is conflicted by wanting to be a priest versus wanting to be a professional baseball player - he is the good kid and the last hope of his parents.Terry tricks Cole into accompanying a house break-in and the trouble begins. The financial crisis at home drives Cole to get a job in a restaurant, and drives Desmond to menial work shining shoes. The family will support Kathleen's pregnancy, but that strips the income to the point that Cole must leave his Catholic school to be in public school, and while that seems to dash his hopes for a career in baseball, the coach at his public school (Finn Curtin) acknowledges Cole's talent and promises a future. Terry's lifestyle as a hoodlum presents increasing problems and at one point Cole gathers the courage to confront Terry during a robbery plot at Cole's work place and Terry is seriously wounded. We discover a hidden fact about Desmond that explains some of his sociopath behavior to his family and it is this discovery, coinciding with Terry's gunshot injury and Kathleen's tough life as an unwed working pregnant girl, that pulls the family unit back together.If the plot sound like soap opera rest assured it is not. This is an intensely realistic examination of a fragile Irish Catholic family striving to makes sense of a world that is increasingly chaotic. All of the actors are excellent, but the extraordinary sensitivity and skill of young Michael Angarano make this a film to cherish. And Brad Gann is assuredly a talent to watch! Very highly recommended. Grady Harp