Irish Luck

Starring:Frankie Darro, Dick Purcell, Lillian Elliott, Dennis Moore, James Flavin, Sheila Darcy, Mantan Moreland, Ralph Peters, Tristram Coffin, Pat Gleason, Gene O'Donnell (II), Donald Kerr, Aloha Wray, Maxine Leslie, Howard M. Mitchell, Wilbur Mack
Director: Howard Bretherton
Studio: Alpha Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Heartwarming!
Magic 'America'
Hit Home
Do you believe in magic? You will, you will
irish immigration

In America
Starring: Paddy Considine , Samantha Morton , Sarah Bolger , Emma Bolger , and Neal Jones
Director: Jim Sheridan
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005JLR8
Release Date: 2004-05-11

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In America stars the incandescent Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine as two young Irish parents who have lost their only son. Trying to run away from their grief, they move (illegally) to a junkie-infested apartment building in New York City with their two daughters, Christy (Sarah Bolger) and Ariel (Emma Bolger). Though they struggle with meager jobs and suffocatingly hot weather, a friendship with an artist in an apartment below them (Djimon Hounsou, Gladiator) becomes a catalyst that allows them to rebuild their family. In America is splendidly acted throughout--of particular note are the two girls, real-life sisters whose on-screen charisma is clearly a family trait. But it's Morton who anchors the movie; her every emotion seems to glow from her skin. The commitment of the actors keeps the movie compelling, despite some dangerously sentimental patches. --Bret Fetzer

Description

From Academy Awad Nominee Jim Sheridan comes this deeply personal and poignant tale of a poor Irish family searching for a better life In America. Through the eyes of their spunky daughters, two anguished parents find hope and the ability to once again believe in love and magic…even amidst the dangers of New York's harrowing Hell's Kitchen. With mesmerizing performances by Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou, In America is "a classic" (USA Today) you won't ever forget.

Customer Reviews:

Heartwarming!.......2007-05-12

This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. The child who plays
the lead role is just wonderful. Watch it with your children and
grandchildren. You'll probably watch it over and over. A wonderful
and humorous story, with a few very exciting moments and a nice
ending.
N.

Magic 'America'.......2007-02-28

In America is a beautifully done and heartfelt film about an Irish family's struggle to make a fresh start in New York after the death of their young son. Director Jim Sheridan has done some remarkable work over the years focusing on true-to-life Irish characters (My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father). He turns to his own experiences for this film, an intensely personal and lyrical rendering of the American Dream, written by Sheridan and his daughters, Kirsten and Naomi.

As told from a child's point-of-view, the depiction of a poor immigrant family is somewhat idealized. Christy, the eldest of the two daughters captures their lives on camcorder and, with three wishes at her disposal, fancies herself as the person who piggybacks her family through their difficulties. But the story really takes a turn into the realm of magic realism with the introduction of the character of Mateo (Djimon Honsou), a Basquiat-like artist who lives in the same drug-infested building as the family. This leads to an unexpected ending for which Sheridan brings up M. Night Shyamalan of all directors as an inspiration in the superb director's commentary.

The cast is excellent. Samantha Morton is, as always, immanently watchable. As we know from her role as Sean Penn's muse in Sweet and Lowdown, no actor may be as capable of saying as much in their expressions alone as Morton. Real-life sisters, Sarah and Emma Bolger, who play the young girls are so fine and natural in their roles it will send shivers down your spine. Paddy Considine, who plays the father, can't be overlooked as the film's anchor; he is the person who goes through the greatest transformation as he struggles with grief and trying to be the emotional rock for his family.

As the commentary reveals, much of In America was actually filmed in Ireland, but there are few recent films that depict New York, and especially the New York of the underprivileged, as sweetly.

Hit Home.......2007-02-20

All the actors and actresses carried this movie and made it so believable. You could sense the exhilaration, frustration, danger and opportunities in "coming to America". The melting pot, indeed. The Bolger sisters absolutely were the touch of grace in this story....the phrase "Goodbye Frankie....say 'goodbye Frankie' Dad..." will indelibly be etched in my mind. Tough, heartbreakingly real and giving a glimpse of the aspirations of millions who've come ashore.

Do you believe in magic? You will, you will.......2007-01-30

Name the film directors whose first film won Academy Awards for their co-stars. There's only one: Jim Sheridan, who directed "My Left Foot" in 1989. Brenda Fricker won an Oscar for Best Actress. Daniel Day-Lewis was named Best Actor. And Jim Sheridan established himself as a director who could plumb deep emotion without wallowing in it.

Two more films, four more Oscar nominations --- clearly, Sheridan has a way with actors. And then, in 2003, he co-authored and directed "In America," starring Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Honsou (who went on to co-star in "Blood Diamond") and two sisters, 12-year-old Sarah Bolger and 8-year-old Emma. Morton was nominated for Best Actress by the Academy. Honsou was a nominee for Best Supporting Actor. The Bolger sisters were robbed.

But then, so was "In America," which has embedded itself in my memory as one of the wisest, most affecting films I've ever seen. I just watched it again. On second viewing, it's just as powerful.

I suspect this is, in part, because "In America" is the kind of story that the Irish do best. There's plenty of painful, gritty realism --- there's also a rich stream of magic. They merge at the start of the film. The strands never separate.

It works like this: Johnny Sullivan, his wife Sarah and their daughters sit in their old station wagon at the Canadian border, waiting to be admitted to the United States as "tourists." In fact, this Irish actor and his family plan to be illegal aliens in New York City. Johnny presents his documents....

Immigration Officer: How many children do you have?
Johnny: Three.
Sarah: Two.
Johnny: Two.
Immigration Officer: Says three here.
Johnny: We lost one.

That lost child is Frankie, recently dead at 5. His legacy is grief --- grief like a lead blanket, grief so heavy there's no point talking about it because everyone feels it and no one knows what to do about it. Christy, the older daughter, has been "talking" to Frankie every night and believes that he has given her three wishes. Seeing that this moment could go either way, she uses one: Please let us into America....

In New York, the Sullivans find an apartment in a druggie-infested slum. The girls like America. But Johnny is stymied in the land of opportunity --- his auditions are flat, he can't get a part, he becomes one of that army of actors who drives a cab. More stress: Sarah gets pregnant and learns that the baby could endanger her health. And the kids have befriended Mateo, a neighbor --- a fierce, hostile African artist who, unknown to them, is dying of AIDS.

You watch all this, mouth open, as if you are watching a documentary. Credit the writing and, equally, the performances: Samantha Morton is all eyes and hope. Paddy Considine is a tormented block of ice. And the girls --- well, here's Jim Sheridan recalling how he cast them:

There was an open audition and Emma was the very first girl. I got Emma to read, and I thought she was a bit too good, so I went to get another girl, and Emma pulled my coat really hard, and I looked 'round and she just looked at me with pity, as if I'd crossed the line of etiquette, and she said, "Is she reading my part?" I waited and looked in her eyes, and she didn't back down, so I said, "No, Emma, nobody's reading your part. She said, "Good, my sister's in the car." I said, "What age?" She said, "10," but I thought that was too young. She said, "Well, see her anyway." And I went down and cast her after three minutes. So that was the first two kids out of 300 --- I never saw any others.

There are scenes in this movie that will haunt you all your days. At a street fair, John bets every dollar they have in order to win an ET doll for the kids....Sarah, wild-eyed, briefly loses her mind in the maternity ward....Christy sings "Desperado" at a school talent show....Johnny confesses to Mateo, "I asked God a favor --- take me instead of him. And he took the both of us." And then there is a line that was, for me, the killer: Christy announcing, "Don't `little girl' me --- I've been carrying this family on my back for more than a year."

Oh, the wisdom of kids. These girls find the words than no one else can say. They form the friendships that lead the family back to life. You can see some kind of happy ending coming, but you absolutely can't see how --- and then Christy uses her third and final wish.

When I saw "In America" in a theater, people all around us were blubbering at that wish; how simple it was, and how hard. Christy's words to her father cut deep, but they cut with such love. And then there are words --- three words, and you'll never guess them --- that Johnny has to say.

The catharsis, when it comes, is glorious. There's a second one, a printed line at the start of the credits --- the dedication of the film "to the memory of my brother, Frankie." A little research reveals that Jim Sheridan was 17 when his younger brother died. But the ages don't matter, only the emotions. And there is no director on this planet who handles emotional truth better than Jim Sheridan.

As you will see in those moments when your tears don't blur the screen.

irish immigration.......2007-01-25

Sarah and Johnny move with their two young girls from Ireland to tenement housing in New York City. A few floors below them Mateo of Nigeria has scrawled "Keep Away" on his door in bright orange letters, and screams in rage. Why he does so, and what happens when Johnny's family discovers why, form the crux of this film. In America is only partly a story about immigration, and more about grief, loss and friendship among these five people. This was a good but not great film, even though it earned three Academy Award nominations.

Average customer rating:

Grouping Of Crisp Sequences In A Pleasing Programmer.

Irish Luck
Starring: Frankie Darro , Dick Purcell , Lillian Elliott , Dennis Moore , and James Flavin
Director: Howard Bretherton
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0006IUE34
Release Date: 2004-12-21

Customer Reviews:

Grouping Of Crisp Sequences In A Pleasing Programmer........2005-10-03

Produced by actor Grant Withers, this is the initial entry of a Frankie Darro starring series for Monogram Pictures during which this foremost exponent of the Boyish Enthusiasm genre plays as a hotel bellhop and "Amateur Detective" (the movie's title in England), and it is also the first of six works for which Darro is cast along with comic actor Mantan Moreland as his foil who wishes to exercise no part of crime solving, a chronic habit and avocation of Darro's characters, "Buzzy O'Brien" in this archetypal instance. The short (51 min.) film begins in brisk fashion and continues on a smooth roll throughout with Buzzy, son of a former police detective, becoming entangled in shady goings-on at his place of employment, the Regal Hotel, including multiple murders and a theft of negotiable bonds, with the young bellboy being in the midst of it all, as the temptation to be a nonprofessional gumshoe ensures that his job, his good standing with old family friend Detective Lanahan (Dick Purcell), and his very life will be in hazard. Very popular upon its release, the film still generates approval from viewers due to excellent casting and delivery of rapid-fire and crisp dialogue by the players, with ill-starred Monogram mainstay Purcell earning the acting laurels for his effortless performance as a no-nonsense detective in charge of the many investigations at the hotel; the direction, editing and scoring are not equalled by the studio's 1944 recrafting of the story as THE ADVENTURES OF KITTY O'DAY, featuring Jean Parker.

Average customer rating:

Luck of the Irish
Starring: Tyrone Power , Anne Baxter , Cecil Kellaway , Lee J. Cobb , and James Todd
Director: Henry Koster
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000NDI4UC

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