Les moissons d'Irlande

The acclaimed stage play from Brian Friel has been successfully adapted for the screen in this visual treat from Pat O'Connor. The beautiful landscapes of Donegal do not smother the intelligent performances such as from Meryl Streep (Kate Mundy), Catherine McCormack (Christine Mundy) and Rhys Ifans (Gerry Evans). Those critics who have condemned the movie for being simple and about ordinary people seem to miss the point. This is meant to be a simple story about ordinary people - and that is why it is so moving! More importantly though - 'Dancing at Lughnasa' is also entertaining and really deserved better than the mixed reviews on initial release.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie, since I had no idea what the play was about or anything. The only actor in the movie I had heard of was Meryl Streep, but that didn't matter because she was the reason I went to see the movie. As always, her accent was pitch perfect, right down to the Donegal vowels. Her performance was also incredible, which deserves some recognition but probably won't get any. The rest of the cast was also wonderful, particularly Sophie Thompson as Rose. If anyone else should get recognition, it should be her because her performance was heart-wrenching and bittersweet. So GO AND SEE IT!!! NOW!!

Meryl Streep is pretty wonderful. Maybe it's not even her acting at all -- she just has this entranced stare that seems to say so much. But she's not the only one here: almost the entire cast gives fairly excellent performances. The one problem that tore the film apart was Rhys Ifans (the Gerry character). It seemed these two males who intrude on the family are central to the story. The Jack character is funny and moving and works well. The Gerry character does not. His dances in the field with Catherine McCormack make us wonder how much we've missed that we're supposed to absently start liking this guy just because he drives a motorbike and can dance. And with that crucial role unraveled, the film begins to do the same. What we end up with are some moving and notable bits, but that's about all.

Given the luxury of owning films via DVD collections offers the opportunity to revisit at will the works the viewer found worthy of purchase. Such is the case with the luminous 'Dancing at Lughnasa', a 1998 release by director Pat O'Connor to the tunes of a lilting screenplay by Frank McGuinness based on Brian Friel's 1990 play of the same name. Though low key and not a popular hit at the box office, this is one of those rare films that combines a very simple tale about common folks brought to life by a cast of extraordinary actors.

The story is set in Donnegal, Ireland in 1936 (just before WW II)choked the world) and simply relates the life of a family of five single sisters and the love child of one of them. The action is spare, centering on the visit of their brother home from the missionary work in Uganda inalterably changed from the experience, on the loss of job of the supporting eldest sister, and the return of the errant father of the love child for the summer, and other daily challenges. The stresses and strains these small events play on the sisters is eventually climaxed in the dancing festival that marks the Feast of Lughnasa (a persistent pagan celebration that challenges the very Catholic foundation of the Irish community), a compelling event that parallels the returned priest brother from the mission fields where he has gained insight into the desperate need for community, happiness, dancing and celebration as the essential needs of humankind.

The cast is flawless: Meryl Streep is superb as the elder sister bitterly bound to holding the family together at all costs, Catherine McCormack as the mother of the lovechild, Kathy Burke, Sophie Thompson and Brid Brennan; Michael Gambon as the deranged returned brother; and Rhys Ifans as the errant father of the child. They interact and play like fine chamber music. The brilliantly green and gorgeous countryside is captured eloquently by Kenneth MacMillan. In every aspect of production the film fits like a tightly intertwined puzzle. It simply glows. Revisiting 'Dancing at Lughnasa' is an even finer trip than the first exposure. Highly Recommended.

... to enjoy this film. I had five Italian aunts and the insights into their sisterly relations appear to me spot on. So often in relationship stories, each character is a paragon of one virtue. Not true in "Dancing in Lughnasa" where the women are not prototypical but rather complex and totally unself-conscious individuals.

As one of the finest actors of her time, to her credit, Meryl Streep doesn't overpower the excellent ensemble cast. Even the men players, who are figuratively essential but literally superfluous to the survivl of this family, are presented as whole people. They are neither villains or heroes; just men. Go figure!

In a film that depends on the actors' considerable restraint in exposing the internal and external dramas of the plot, there are two wonderful moments of abandon near the end: the essential dances of life ... the dance of faith, hope and charity and the dance of decadenced, despair, and destruction.

An overall enjoyable entertainment, the film fails only in not giving the audience a better understanding of the implacable, irreversible outside forces in the world working against the family. This is film after all where we expect to be shown as well as told.