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.

"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)

Life's a Breeze is a small, family oriented drama from Ireland starring Fionnula Flanagan as a retired school teacher whose adult children decide to clean up their mom's house as a birthday present. The problem is, that with the stuff they throw out, is an old mattress with the old lady's life savings in it. Thus begins a wild goose chase to recover the missing money. Flanagan is great here, as she was previously in The Guard(a must see Irish comedy), and Kill the Irishman, an excellent true crime story. Her granddaughter, Emma(newcomer Kelly Thornton), is a breath of fresh air in her numerous scenes with Flanagan. The eighty minutes go by quickly and had me laughing and rooting for a happy outcome. The cast is all good and the script witty enough to make Life's a Breeze worth watching.

Of course, it's an Irish film, so it's ha-ha-ha laugh your head off funny - you should absolutely see it because it's the greatest film of the year and there's nothing quite like it! (Sarcasm intended)

It's a deep-rooted Irish comedy, and plays on the fact that we love to laugh at ourselves - which for some, works, and for others, doesn't. It's far from being a masterpiece, but it's a feel-good comedy that'll give you a few chuckles on occasion because you will, without a doubt, be able to relate some of the story to your own life.

The film is filled with beautiful shots of the not-so-beautiful Dublin city, and is a very enjoyable visual experience with some lovely cinematography. So, visually, it's a very solid viewing experience. However, it may not be the most well assembled story ever made - it survives mostly on the characters and their relationships with each other, but with a few twists along the way, it does leave you wondering whether or not the money actually exists, or "nan's gone crazy".

"Life's a Breeze" has a well assembled cast, including the Emmy-winning Fionnula Flanagan as the grandmother. Pat Shortt as 'Colm', and the terrific Kelly Thornton as the young girl 'Emma'. Thornton and Flanagan form an adorably lovable pair on screen, while Shortt brings come stereotypical Irish comedy into the mix. Along their journey to find the money the trio encounter many quirky situations that cause multiple clashes among the rest of the family but when it all comes to a close you'll be left with a sense of restored faith in your own family, and a bit of home for the people you surround yourself with.

"Life's a Breeze" is a lovable comedy that's absolutely worth a watch if you're a fan of Irish production, but maybe not your cup of tea if you're over-judgmental of what you choose to spend your time watching.

www.StuartComerford.com Twitter: @StuartComerford

I saw a screening of this film in the Irish Film Institute and the only actor I knew in it was Fionnuala Flanagan who played Mrs Mills in The Others. However it was supposed to be good so I went anyway.

The film's story is that Flanagan plays the elderly mother to a group of grown-up children that are utterly horrible human beings one way or another. They actually decide to do something nice for their mother and remodel her house while she's out. Unfortunately she reveals that her old mattress that they threw out contained all her life savings - nearly a million. Thus the hunt for the lost mattress begins. Things escalate even further when the youngest son (Pat Shortt) makes an announcement on the radio and it turns into a nationwide sensation.

The film's main bad points are that it runs far too long. It's clear that there are several scenes in the film that are there just to pad out the running time. They have nothing really to do with the main plot and if you removed them, they wouldn't affect the film at all. Among these are an extended sequence where the youngest son believes he has won the lottery only to discover the grandmother and granddaughter have fooled him with Sky plus TV. Also a scene where they throw the mother an 80th birthday party complete with a stripper. The scenes are funny but do nothing for the film and they're obvious filler so watching them becomes tiring. You want them to be over so you can go back to the actual plot.

The film does have good points, notably in its cast. Flanagan and Shortt work well together as the two main draws. Flanagan is a breath of fresh air from the traditional cranky yet sassy stereotypical Irish old lady. However the best performance from the film is the actress who plays the teenage granddaughter. The girl had very good comic timing and seemed very natural on camera. She's definitely one to watch out for, though hopefully Fair City is out of the question. The rest of the cast were all nice and witty too.

The film was well written and well made. I was surprised to find out that some scenes were filmed in Sweden. You'd never be able to tell though. The film's music was also very nice. It really complimented the whole thing and made it an enjoyable experience.

So in short it was a nice little well-made film. However it was let down by the obvious padding which came across as lazy writing.