Kings

I love any good Irish film and really want to see this. When I first saw the writeup on a few different sites I decided to look into it before I got the movie. And after reading everyones comments Im even more confused. Im guessing the movie is not spoken in English? I've always thought the Irish spoke English with an Irish accent. However, everyone's comments say differently. To make this even more confusing, someone commented that they wanted the movie spoken in Irish and not English. Yet they wrote there comment in English.... IM CONFUSED.

Could someone clarify if this is in fact English with an Irish accent or is there some language I don't know about. Also if it is not spoken in English, could someone verify if the "English version" of the movie has an alternate title here in the US.

Thank you

this is the only good honest film about irish culture i've seen .

the story is slow moving but very good (unless you need an action thriller to keep you awake).

i watched it last night and when i was coming out of the theatre one of the actors was strolling along beside me, chatting to his friends. UNREAL how often does that happen.

it's kind of like watching ros na run but with a proper story and actors.

overall its well worth a watch .even if its just to see what gaeilge sounds like on the big screen.

loved the part with the rebel tunes.

This contains the best acting I have seen in an Irish film in many years. It is a reworking of a play, and the adaptation preserves all the intensity and intimacy which is usual within a theatre production. It is a dark, brooding and menacing work which does not belong in the category of light entertainment, but rather, a higher art. If you are prepared to go on the journey, you will find it has rewards. But be warned that there is no compromise here to easy access for English only speakers - it is predominantly in Irish with English subtitles. If you like the theatre, you should find this a real treat. Forget Hollywood, or indeed Fair City, this contains the best ensemble acting by an Irish cast since the best of the Roddy Doyle films.

The future of home-grown Irish cinema seems safely in the bag for the time being. We have just had John Carney's "Once" which was a breath of fresh air as well as being a critical and commercial smash. Now we have Derry's own Tom Collins' superb screen version of the play "The Kings of Kilburn High Road" and it may turn out to be the best film yet about the Irish diaspora. It's a stunner and could see Ireland short-listed in the Best Foreign Film category at this year's Oscars.

The plot is simple and there is nothing new in it. Five friends, all immigrants from Ireland's Conemara, gather for the wake of a sixth killed by a train in the London Underground. During a long night's drinking, regrets and recriminations rise to the surface together with ghosts from their pasts. There is a touch of Eugene O'Neill here certainly, (Irishness and alcohol figured largely in his work), but as the night wears on and drunkenness breaks down the men's bravado, the film broadens out into a more universal study of machismo. Although a painfully accurate record of both the Irish way of death and drinking these could be any group of old friends in any bar anywhere in the world.

The bar-room setting of the film's second half exposes its theatrical origins but Collins opens it out superbly and the flashbacks to earlier days never seem intrusive. He keeps it briskly cinematic throughout and the performances of the whole cast can't be faulted. This is a superb ensemble piece and at a festival the performance of the five principals, (and of Peadar O'Taraigh as the dead man's father), would be worthy of a joint best actor award. However, I am inclined to single out Brendan Conroy as Git. Git may seem at first the weakest of the group but in Conroy's extraordinary performance he proves himself the strongest. Like the film itself, Conroy deserves the highest of praise.

Overall this was an excellent film, the story was good, and so was the acting. the only thing that I found difficult was the fact that it as in a language I didn't understand, so I had to read the subtitles. Don't get me wrong after a while you get used to it, and you can still enjoy the film 100 percent. other than that it is a very good film, that I would recommend!

Also another aspect of this film was that the characters were very, very real. they all had different personalities. the only thing was, being from a very different country couldn't get their names until we were halfway into the film, so it did get a little confusing, but never the less I stand by what I said in the first paragraph, that this was a very well done film.

And although it was a story that was sadder then most, it did have parts that were happy, even funny! it wasn't all sad and depressing.

so yes, this is a good, very good film to see, so I recommend it!