User reviews

It is a touching movie about characters with cultural differences which are instrumental in the resolution of unspoken injustices. The scenery of Ireland is breathtaking and the pace of the film is soothing. Pierce Brosnan is to be commended for bringing out the nature of his people and how their sentiments merge with the beauty of his native land.

"The Nephew" is about a young American man who, following the death of his mother, returns to her homeland, Ireland, to meet his kindred and instead opens a closet full of skeletons. A wonderful mix of humor, romance, drama, music, and scenic beauty, layered over a compelling story of family issues which need to be laid to rest. Those who give this little "sleeper" a chance are not likely to be disappointed.

This story begins in the middle, as it does for the main character, Chad. Gaps in the story fill in as you go and the film is deliberately vague as to how the characters relate to one another at first, so paying attention is required if you plan on "getting" the whole thing.

The performances are strong and the story is easy enough to follow with the added challenge of figuring out why the various characters are so irritated. Chad grows to understand how his mother is really the source of much of the drama.

Certain plot points are very convenient, but well played by the actors to make them believable. At one point Chad accidentally uncovers a big "piece in the puzzle". But Hill Harper plays it very naturally and blends it right into the script before you notice its unlikeliness.

The film moves at a respectable pace that still lends itself to the sleepy, nothing-to-do small-town atmosphere that is required to convey the characters' attitudes realistically.

An easy film to watch for adults, definitely boring and inappropriate for the under-sixteen crowd. Good-natured comic relief is in abundance. Even so, it is a bit sentimental and therefore might be cast off as a "chick movie" by younger boys/men.

OK, I enjoyed the movie. A good part of what I liked about the movie was simply learning a little about the daily life of people in Ireland. Take that away, and I'm not sure that the somewhat flawed script and story would hold up. The story holds your attention in that you get to know the characters and you want to know what happened 20 years ago. The revelation is fairly predictable, and not overly satisfying.

I give it a 7, and that's probably a little generous...

But alas and alack, it was not to be. I sorta liked it but it did not engage me as a film ought to. I loved the scenery, music and the cinematography but the script, that was another story. And the cliches were so abundant they just about took over the movie. This is an Ireland dumbed down for the foreign revenue no doubt. There is no other way of explaining it. A black kid arrives on a remote island off the coast and is soon assimilated into the locale and treated as one of the islanders. Not in the Ireland I know where they are still trying to deal with the prejudice around foreign adoptions. Non-white kids in Ireland are ignored on the whole or talked about and around as if they are invisible - a problem that should go away. Nuns in wimples disappeared in the seventies and if a few lingered on they were on the heads of some ancients, not on the young nuns portrayed here. And there was a huge plot hole in the fact that the postman, known and loved by all would not deliver key mail to a major player or at the very least show curiosity about important mail from a banished lover to a pub owner. And the mawky and sentimental resolution at the end,oh dear, I have seen better Ballykissangel episodes. Sigh. This is an Ireland of leprachauns and wishful thinking. 6 out of 10 for the great cast who tried to rise above the abysmal material they were dealt and dig for some meaning in their characters. The late great Donal McCann was a knockout as was Sinead Cusack.

Nice little movie that takes place in a small Irish town.

Others have given the plot summary, so I'll just make a couple of comments. First, I thought the ending seemed pretty forced, and not in keeping with the spirit of the rest of the movie. It could have been worse, but it could have been better too.

Second, although Pierce Brosnan didn't do a bad job in his role, I just didn't find him believable. Part of the reason was that he's 10 years younger than Tony, even though they were supposed to be contemporaries (at least, that's the impression I got) in the movie. He just seemed too young for the part.

He also just looked out of place. All the rest of the actors looked like they really belonged in this small town, while Brosnan looks like a Hollywood star. These aren't things that he can do anything about, but the casting director should have taken it into consideration when casting the part.

Overall, I would say that it's a movie worth watching, both for the love story between Chad and Aislin, and for the family histories and intrigue in the past that can't be forgotten. A flawed movie, but still worth seeing. 7 stars.

This is a neat little story that gives a new twist to the returning Irish diaspora. Although it an entertaining and somewhat lightweight yarn, it does ask a few questions of the main characters and their attitudes to love and hate. A fine performance from Donal McCann as you would expect. And Pierce Brosnan is good not only as the protective father nursing his inner pain but also as the producer of the film. He could easily rest on his 007 laurels but instead he likes to use his box-office clout to help make movies that might not otherwise be made. Yes, the film is easy to watch but no less deserving because of it.

there isn't a hell of a lot to say about this movie - it was alright, it had a few nice moments, but it did not have a lot of substance to it. it didn't have a lot to offer and i did not feel you got too involved with any of the characters.. but it was fine..

A spirited young man from New York, Chad (played by Hill Harper, very worth your notice), takes a trip to an island off the coast of Ireland. This after the death of his only remaining parent, to fulfill a promise to meet his estranged uncle: he is a local man full of his own ideas about how life should be lived, for himself as well as others.

They embark on a personal journey full of challenges, surprises, family secrets and an uncertainty as to whether or not they will ever find common ground.

All of the main characters have been convincingly developed and they each have something conceivable and worthy to offer. This may not have been a super-high budget film but the acting is superb. Pierce Brosnan (one of the producers) gives a generous and compelling performance as the conflicted, village bar owner trying to balance parenthood and an amended life from behind the stone wall of a guarded heart. Veteran actor, Donal McCann, in one of his final performances, adds an authentic and credible edge as our protagonist's uncle. Sinead Cusak, Phelim Drew, Niall Tobin, Lorraine Pilkington and Aislin McGuckin also deliver command performances as the villagers that are comprised of both the kindred and not-so-kindred spirits in Chad's new world.

The soundtrack is a compilation of beautiful Irish ballads, old soul and rock as well as various and sundry other scores that lend a tight musical canvas against which this story is painted. It was disappointing to learn that there are no plans to make this soundtrack into an album that could be purchased.

What keeps me coming back to this sweet and gallant movie is its soulfulness and honesty. The map of the human heart is ultimately universal and the characters in this story endeavor to draw their own lines to determine what defines friendship, family and honor.

This is a wonderful, interesting and thoughtfully structured comfort film. It begs to be watched from your favorite easy chair on a cozy day - with feet up, your favorite afghan and a warm cup of tea and favorite cookies nearby.

American, British, German and French films make up 90 per cent of the repertoire of Austrian theatres. So, I suppose the only reason why this very Irish drama was shown in Austria was Pierce Brosnan. Isn't it ironic? Pierce Brosnan is the only element in this picturesque, stereotyped Irish setting that doesn't fit into the whole scenery at all.

Without Brosnan, who I'm quite sure was only hired to provide this film a commercial chance, it would be a perfect melodrama with few surprises, love and hate and forgiveness etc., and with typical Irish clichés: green land, stubborn farmers in lovely villages, rather dumb red-haired guys, romantic girls and old men in grey suits sitting at the pub all day.

Absolute average. Romeo and Juliet in Ireland, or: Rosamunde Pilcher on the big screen. Only Mr. Brosnan tears the movie down.

This movie is just excellent. The best drama movie I've ever seen. It is full of emotions, and this movie is not a typically Hollywood movie!! It has great actors, such as my favorite Pierce Brosnan and Hill Harper. I loved the movie, one of the best with Brosnan. Looking forward to Grey Owl...

Now I have the DVD, I can see the movie to its full force.. it is a must see one.. Irish landscapes, the score.. Each character gives a clear idea of life in Ireland.. escpecially the two nice kids and the two cronies in the bar of Brady

I thought this movie was a nice surprise. I stumbled across it quite by accident while channel surfing on day. It deals with a wide range of human issues (love, cultural taboos, race, generation gap) in a very matter of fact fashion and worked toward resolution of the primary conflicts in believable strides. I feel it reflects well upon the Irish culture and the performers taking part. I enjoyed it well enough to desire to add it to my collection of DVD's. I would put it on a par with The Van, An Everlasting Piece, Rat, and The Snapper (to name a few). It isn't deserving of academy award consideration but certainly worth the time to view it.

I always enjoy the "little sleeper" films, and believe me this is one. It's very interesting to see how sometimes the outside world views we Americans. Nevertheless, Chad seemed accepted by almost all, except his competition....I enjoyed all the characters and the brief glimse into another culture and spent a delightful time there.

The film also shows a life "lost" due to lack of communication, forgiveness, and crowned with stubborn self-righteousness, but just perhaps at the end when all is revealed, a new beginning. Other critiques have noted it was a "pat" ending, but I'd like to think that it was just a beginning... As Chad remarked, to Patsy "Believe it or not, I am Irish".

This was a very thought provoking tear jerker. I thought the acting was excellent, the setting great and the story very real. I think if the director can evoke such a tremendous sense of reality he has succeeded. Bravo.

I only viewed this movie because it was a previously-viewed video on sale for $3 at Blockbuster. I didn't expect too much but was very pleasantly surprised how good it was. I almost rated it 8, but settled on 7, mainly because the ending was a bit too "neat", and because some of the dialog was very difficult to understand.

Chad is the 19-yr-old son of an Irish woman who had been "exiled" to America 20 years earlier by her guardian, her older brother. He traveled to visit his uncle Tony upon the death of his mother. Once there, he finds a lot of secrecy and unhappiness, and the rest of the movie is about his attempts to get everything, especially about his mother, out in the open. Along the way he, of course, finds love. Very well cast and acted, this is definitely worth the almost two hours to see.

The pace and method of unfolding the story reminded me of Lone Star, but Lone Star is a significantly better movie overall.

This is a little movie, but it accomplishes its task well, portraying the return of the son of a woman forced out of Ireland by her brother's restrictiveness and her pregnancy, and then cut off by her brother's manipulations. The son, who is half black (an initial shock to the Irish island community, but subordinate to everything else, though it does give a little edge to things) rekindles the old fights, which never had disappeared, until things are finally resolved in a tentative forgiveness.

I accidentally saw this movie while I scanning thro different channels in TV. The time I stopped with this movie, I never took my eye out out of it.. exceptional background music.. Actually I saw in german which I do not understand but even then I loved it watching.. I look for the english version.. It is perhaps one of the best movies of Bronson..

Initially this film was advertised as being like Waking Ned evine,( another great Irish film )but it is nothing like it. Instead, it was comical in parts, but more dramatic in character development, and really made you feel for the characters. The lead actors were all strong, the visuals were very striking, and the music especially memorable ( I have not been able to find the soundtrack) I loved this film, and to have two boys aged 14 and 16 sit through it and appreciate it, says alot. 10 out of 10.

Forget the black kid meets white relatives story, this film is a great love story. The chemistry is undeniable against a backdrop as beautiful as it gets. The soundtrack is good with the "The Voice" by Einear Quinn as the centerpiece. A great couples film, watch it.

This movie is marvellous. Great scenery , great actors and actresses. Hill Harper and Sinead Cusack hit it off great. One can feel the sex between them.

This was the most disturbing movie I saw this summer. The layers keep peeling away as the movie progresses and the characters are trapped in the lives they have despite the shake-up.

The quasi-happy ending is believable, but it pulled back from the message of the rest of the movie, that some things you just can't make repent of and make better. It could have left the characters' souls gutted and maimed, but it stabs towards some kind of healing. The ending wasn't what the movie made me expect.