An Irish Angel

I found An Irish Angel to be a sweet, charming coming-of-age film. It is a serious film, but with flashes of humor. Danny Patrick wrote and directed the film which seemed to be partly autobiographical in that he grew up in Ireland about the same time as her character. The film is a meditation on what it means to be from some place and what that idea of home means in shaping who you become.

Aine 'Niamh James' has a love-hate relationship with her town, her family and her place in both. It is also very much a story of young girl struggling with her own and her mother's expectations for herself. The script is really charming with the best scenes being those of Aine and her mother played by 'Amanda Doherty'.

Aine is struggling with her secret pregnancy, family, friendship, religion all at the same time. Like all of us, she is trying to find her place in the world. Niamh James is excellent as Ained as is Amanda Doherty in the role of her haggard struggling mother trying to hold her family together through difficult times. Recommended to those who like drama, particularly coming-of-age films.

One of the things this film does exceptionally well is give us a snapshot of the experiences Aine 'Niamh James' has, while still filling each moment with so much meaning and emotion. This is not a film about a teenager actively going through the world, it is about being in your 30's and looking back at your teenage youth. An Irish Angel does not rest on any single experience for very long and this is because when we remember our youth, we don't remember everything, and we don't remember all the sides to the story, we just remember how the door slammed and everything went silent or how we used to stare longingly at the dream house a few streets away, wishing it were ours. The criticism that this film touches on too much and discusses too little, is a misconception that this is a play by play of a young woman forced into being an adult. This is how life is remembered, in moments, slivers, glances. More over, Danny Patrick creates a female lead character that is at once self-conscious and determined. She does not wilt or waver in her goals even despite the mistakes she's made. Aine is a new female lead that does not ask "what will I do now?" when something goes wrong. She simply keeps going, until she arrives.

As far as coming of age movies go. I most certainly feel like this is a complete and total winner. The acting and performances especially from Todd Bell as Leo and the lead Aine was wonderful.

The Story line whilst familiar was handled incredibly well, should I say fantastic! I fell that I just had to give it the kudos it deserves. Thanks to the people who made this possible, for an independent movie it took a lot of risks which paid off.

It felt so real and so satisfying to see the all of the story threads coming together. Very Emotional at times and occasionally silly. Loved it!

Thanks again to the creators.

I thought this movie was promising, premise wise. It was refreshing in the sense that it didn't feel like your average Independent Artsy Movie; it felt more or less like a movie with something to say. Which is charming actually, the cinematography is beautiful I loved it.

To me this movie over delivered on some points, and undelivered in others. Like I said I liked the directing style, I liked how unconventional the characters looked. Mostly in films; teenagers are being physically portrayed as beauty pageant contestants or extremely good looking cheer leaders etc.. but over here they looked more realistic and believable as teenagers. I loved the way this movie represented the family unit, in that it wasn't too good to be true but wasn't too unreal either. Millions of Irish People probably grew up in such families which seems more relatable to the viewer.

I have to focus on the ways in which this film fell short for me at least. The plot was very cliche, the same as every other coming of age movie. Teen finds herself pregnant, teen fights with parent to gain her independence, parent resist teen's independence and then teen starts rebelling out of frustration and so on.

The plot was quite the cookie-cutter. It was predictable and we have seen it many times. The only difference is the setting & the characters really. I felt like the idea of the family going through "financial difficulties" was just thrown in for good measures. I kinda wished they threw that out of the plot all together, it didn't seem to actually affect the plot in anyway other than dramatic effect.

So yeah, overall pretty good film but I felt it lacked on originality and it wasn't as "deep" as I had hoped it would be.

I kind of like films like 'An Irish Angel'. Coming of age, teenage dramas where the characters have infinite charm and deal with things we all remember fondly (or not so) from our adolescence. Even though I was never a rebellious teenage girl at a catholic school in Portrush, Northern Ireland, I still found myself relating to this quirky movie.

An Irish Angel captures the essence of what it's like to be a teenager. And while Niamh James 'Aine' and Amanda Doherty 'Margaret' really shine, each cast member adds something to the film, especially the seasoned Jaime Winstone 'Ellie' who hasn't been on this kind of form since her debut in Kidulthood.

I would describe 'An Irish Angel' as a solid, well made, well acted film with wonderful performances from the cast, there's a lot to love about An Irish Angel.