A Man of No Importance

A slight film of forbidden love in early sixties Dublin. There is some great period detail and some lovely funny and touching and dark scenes, but the film IS Albert Finney - a momentous performance as a gay man desperate to consummate his passion for a man he knows he cannot have, and desperate also to create beautiful things in a grey, humdrum world which just doesn't understand him. Finney is absolutely fantastic.

In 1963's Dublin Alfred Byrne is a bus conductor who pleasures his working class passengers with poetry recitals as he punches their tickets. Head of a local theatre group, Byrne is inspired by meeting new passenger Adele Rice to drop his plans to do Importance of Being Earnest and instead go up with Salome. With the challenges to the material from those who would usually support him, Byrne also faces much more negative attention than he would usually like as various truths and secrets come out.

Although the plot does have some interesting aspects to it, it is hard to ignore how average a fist it makes of this story. The threads are there to be delivered and at its heart is Byrne, who is a complex character and one that could have been more interesting. Sadly Krishnamma cannot seem to bring this out of the script with any degree of sharpness. Although I get the idea of the mood and tone that the director was going for, the effect it has is to slow the film right down to the point where it crawls and is surprisingly unengaging. Visually the film has a nice feel of the period but the drab looks again tend to drag the film down a bit.

On paper the cast suggests that they can lift the material themselves but surprisingly nobody does and many of them deserved better. Finney's accent is pretty awful (which didn't help anything) and although he has a certain dignity befitting the character, and brings out some pain, he is never as convincing as he should have been. Fricker, Gambon, Sewell and Fitzgerald are mostly OK but they are given little to do in this film.

A fairly uninspiring affair then. There are things of interest in here but they aren't delivered that well and the film is surprisingly dull.

I'll be terribly original and say this is a movie with no importance. It seems the trigger for all the story, the production of Wilder's play, is the weakest part of the movie, which should have dealt more with Finney's character and the people around him, mainly, him never being in love (he's somehow perfect for the role). Tara (as Adele) is a bit annoying, as is the fact that her character's story is mostly talked about and not seen (her being pregnant and all). The end seems kind of glued to it all, a little sad-a little happy, but more than anything a disappointing meaningless ending for an incomplete movie. Albert Finney and Brenda Fricker deserve much better.

Normally I do not like Albert Finney. In fact I think he's one of the most overrated actors in film (I suspect his style of acting works much better on stage). This movie was an exception. For once he played a real person, and, except for one or two scenes, managed to quench his desire to gnaw at the scenery. I found myself totally identifying with the lead character for once. All of the acting is very effective, and the story is believable. A rare thing in movies. This would be a good double bill for 'My Beautiful Laundrette'. Odd that Indian's present homosexuality believably in English films, but I have never scene an Indian film even portray homosexuality (and, yes, I have seen many Indian films).

A Man of No Importance is a bittersweet drama with no substance.

Set in a conservative world of Catholic Dublin in 1963. Alfred Byrne (Albert Finney) is a middle aged bus conductor who charms his passengers with poetry. He irritates the ticket inspector by covering up for passengers who did not pay for a ticket.

Bryne has an attraction for the new handsome young bus driver Robbie Fay (Rufus Sewell.) A pretty young woman Adele (Tara Fitzgerald) inspires him to attempt to stage Oscar Wilde's Salome with his ad hoc amaetur dramatics company.

Byrne's sister Lily (Brenda Fricker) always tries to set him up with a woman, not knowing that her bookish brother is a closeted homosexual.

The dim local butcher (Michael Gambon) wants the salacious and blasphemous play not to open in the church hall. He later torments Byrne.

Albert Finney gives a sensitive performance of a man for whom love and even close companionship has been elusive. Director Suri Krishnamma sets a wonderful tone with the period setting.

However the script lacks sharpness and is so sketchy with the story and characters. It actually wastes its cast.