Black Irish

What an excellent movie. With surprises all around. It would have been so very easy to make this exactly what was expected of it - a mediocre Indie Drama about a typical dysfunctional American family, with this one happening to be Irish and from Southie. What we get instead is one that fell through the cracks, as it went right to DVD. The critics and distributors missed this one. Had someone besides the author believed in it and packaged it right - it would have been a hit. It is well written, well acted, with several unexpected turns toward the Light - by multiple characters facing their own dilemma. The kind of differences that separate the bland from the sublime. I'm speaking of subtleties not the spectacular. So if you go in looking for the spectacular - you'll miss the supernatural. Which is almost always, subtle. It even manages a happy ending, which is tricky at best with a story like this. Well done all.

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What makes "Black Irish" specially valuable is the quality of the protagonist, Cole McKay. He embodies a wonderfully believable, realistic, and valuable example of virtue.

Popular psychomythology tells us that all teenagers are a mess; as even Anna Freud claimed: "to be normal during the adolescent period is by itself abnormal". The wholly credible figure of Cole McKay put the lie to this claim. He's a person with solid common sense who respects his family and community, who knows the difference between right and wrong -- and is willing to back up his knowledge up with hard, mature decisions.

Studies show that 80% of American adolescents experience "generally positive moods and harmonious relations with their parents and peers" (see: D. Offer et alii, "Adolescent and Family Health" 2003). That's fact. That's Cole McKay who's factually & intelligently willing to fight for and to try to keep constructing this harmony with tough love for his messed-up, bad-seed brother, respect for his ambiguous mother, insightful care for his kind sister and, specially, for his wounded, Vietnam-veteran dad. Who's almost lost the best things he's ever achieved in his life. But not his son. Who binds the family with a love that releases, harmonizes, and illuminates those nearest and dearest to him.

The poetry of baseball is the key to Cole's strength. Why? The game's coherence anchors his moral values; as Bill Veek once said: "Baseball is an island of surety in a changing world." And, for Cole, it provides that energy of decency which love of the game can still provide.

This Boston Irish-American flavored coming-of-age film is extremely typical of any other film of it's type complete with alcoholic father, doting over-bearing mother, fighting siblings, a family in disarray, and so on and so forth. You've likely seen something like it in some variation a million times before. What sets it a tad above films of the same ilk is very commendable performances by Micheal Angarano as Cole and especially Brendan Gleeson as his father, Desmond (the latter is simply riveting) Will this film revolutionize coming of age flicks in any way? no, not at all, but it's a well enough told tale well acted enough to be worth a watch.

My Grade: C+

Region 1 DVD Extras: audio Commentary; a 36 minute behind the scenes featurette; and trailers for "Razor Eaters" & "Antonia"

Problems are hurled at the McKay family as if they were in a batting cage with an endless supply of quarters and no bat. This South Boston Irish-Catholic family deals with the rock bottom side of life they best way they know how. Baseball quietly emerges as a rallying dynamic for the seemingly-defeated male McKays in this coming of age story. It has a lot of heart, and there's a lot to like here. My criticism is that there's too much misfortune for one 95 minute story - as if every stereotype in play today had to be included. It moved me nevertheless. I recommend it. It seems to have gone directly to DVD but should have enjoyed a stint in the theater first.

I thought for sure that Black Irish was going to be like Southie packed with crime. Turns out this movie goes for a deeper more troubling look at turmoil within in a family. That's what made this one so good. You've got the good brother who is a baseball star who has to live in the shadow of what his no good brother does as a low level street punk. The teenage sister gets knocked up bringing more shame to the family. The father is a tortured man down on his luck with a history of failure. The mother is the bread winner trying to hold the family together. All in all it's not an uplifting movie to watch. It does have heart and great acting. A gem of a movie to see.