Life's a Breeze

In Dublin, embarrassed teen Emma is told to accompany her grandmother Nan (Fionnula Flanagan) who lives with her idiot son Colm. It's actually an excuse for her adult kids to come and renovate her home without her knowledge. They throw out much of her belongings including her mattress. Unbeknownst to them, she had hidden her life savings in the mattress which amounts to about a million euros.

This is a black comedy Irish indie. I guess black comedy and Irish indie amount to the same thing. It's an endearing dysfunctional family headed by the magnetic Fionnula Flanagan. She does everything with little more than a look. She controls this movie from the sidelines. Additional praise for Pat Shortt who allows himself to be the butt of the joke. There is some heart, some humor, and some pathos. The running time is a little short and I wonder if the third act could handle another five minutes. This is fun little indie.

This is a fun film which we chose to watch because we enjoy films shot in the UK and because we're huge fans of Fionnula Flanagan. Once again, she stole the show (and saved it) along with Kelly Thornton who plays her granddaughter. We LOVED that Fionnula's character didn't do any shouting, which annoyingly seems to be the norm these days in most shows. ... We would have enjoyed the whole story a bit more (and we'd be able to recommend it to more people) if the vocabulary hadn't been foul and if the dipwads of the story had had more of a comeuppance. Otherwise, it delivered a good story with great cinematography, fun moments, poignant moments, and the annoying characters didn't get so annoying that the show was no longer entertainment, which, again, happens much too often in film today.

I just finished watching this movie and I have to say that it's not always the movies with a high budget that are the best. I enjoyed this Irish dramady. The filming was simple but effective, no need for any spectacular scenes, just day-to-day shots out of the suburbs. All actors did a fine job, especially the grandmother played by Fionnula Flanagan and her grand-daughter Emma played by Kelly Thornton. The search for the missing money, the disbelief of nan's story, the different relationships between the family members all made it a nice movie to watch. There was enough subtle humor to bring a smile on my face every now and then. Certainly worth a watch.

Enjoyed this movie immensely. I agree that some scenes were somewhat irrelevant. Pity there is not much bio on Emma on IMDb. Her last part about crediting Colm with finding the mattress is a beautiful act of kindness and clever psychology. I've been to Dublin twice, once in 1958 and again in 2006. The contrast and change between these two years in terms of scruffiness and graffiti is so disappointing. Nevertheless, there are many points in the city's favour and I would like to visit again. Like many Irish films, the dialogue (Irish accent) can be difficult to follow for our American cousins and those who do not have English mother tongue. Finally, I am curious as to what part of the movie was filmed in Sweden and why?

"Little Miss Sunshine", "Chocolat", maybe even the Japanese masterpiece "Kikujiro", and "Life's a Breeze". These are all excellent films that tell an entertaining story involving 3 generations, focusing mostly on the odd relationship between a 1st generation grandparent figure & a third generation teenager. In each case, the plot isn't what you'd call nail biting suspense, and in fact the stories themselves are pretty mundane. But the payoff is in the interesting views between old & young.

By the way, if you haven't read the DVD back cover yet, then DON'T. It uses some phrases which I consider to be major spo!lers. Since the story itself is pretty simple, you'll probably have a better time if you know nothing about it. Let's just say it's about an urban adventure, set in Ireland (Dublin I assume?), involving a family of weirdos.

The humor is pretty tame, no real laugh-out-loud zingers, but the entire presentation is so witty and light hearted that you'll probably find yourself with a good smirk planted on your face throughout.

A subtle bonus is the way this film shows us the underbelly of Irish society, I'm talking about poor families, garbage dumps (literally), homeless hangouts and other unglamorous facets of life. And yet it doesn't hit you over the head with some preachy social message about it all. The scenes simply provide a contextual backdrop behind the story. Certainly a different approach than your typical glossy Hollywood fare.

Although all performances were great, I'd say the show stealer was newcomer Kelly Thornton who was 15 years old during production. Apparently she was discovered while she was walking down the street. Director Lance Daly has a flair for finding "unprofessional" young actors and eliciting the greatest performances out of them. He did the same with his two young leads in his excellent 2008 film "Kisses" about two young runaways living on the streets of Dublin. Here he does the same with his young star, and the result is a genuine performance as only a non-actor can do.

If you're a fan of the films I mentioned above, or any coming-of-age comedy dramas like "The Squid and the Whale" or another gem I recently saw called "The Way, Way Back", then don't hesitate to check this out. And recycle your trash! (watch the movie and you'll see what I mean)