An Irish Goodbye

A thoroughly-enjoyable short film centering around the difficulties and complexities of family life. Two adult brothers reunite for their mother's funeral against the backdrop of rural Northern Ireland. Seamus O'Hara and James Martin portray the tragi-comic duo with raw athenticity and a dash of Irish humour.

The younger of the two siblings, Lorcan, strives relentlessly to re-bond with his estranged brother Turlough and avert the possibility of having to live with their only remaining relative, an aunt. What unfolds is a series of subtle comic episodes between the pair as they embark on the journey to fulfil their deceased mother's bucket list. Paddy Jenkins as Father O'Shea further adds to the humour one can only expect from the Irish. A crackin' short from start to finish.

I have now rewatched this film 5 times and each time note a different nuance, expression or film angle.

The script is hilarious throughout, mightily irreverent but laugh out loud funny.

It finished leaving the question "what next" for the brothers. But I see only a very happy ending.

For only three actors to produce such a slick coherent work is remarkable. Well done to all three. The northern Irish accent can some times be difficult to interpret but I heard every syllabul. The opening sequence of the bleak open moorland leading to the family home echoed the plot of the bereaved brothers.

A masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.

It won an Ocsar, so you have nothing to lose by taking 23 minutes to watch.

However, it wouldn't be noteworthy, except for the fact the one of the actors (James Martin) has Down's syndrome.

James plays Lorcan, a youngish adult, who has been living in rural Ireland with his mother. She has died, and James' brother Turlough is home from England for the funeral, and to sort out her affairs.

There is a bit of sentimentality, in two brothers reacquainting after their mother's funeral, and some gentle humour, but it's mostly humdrum stuff, with nothing to distinguish it, other than what I have mentioned in the first paragraph.

An okay film, with an average script.

Unoriginal, and not overly well shot (dinner table scene did not flow).

Predictable story. We have seen many bucket list films before.

Dialogue was sketchy and weird timing... felt unintentionally awkward and it didn't flow.

The acting was fine, but certainly it did have a stand out performance by James Martin as brother Lorcan, who was very, very good.

We watched all the nominated shorts (short list), and couldn't work out why this was on the list, it felt the weakest by far. That's not to say it's a bad film. But there was nothing original about it, and it felt overly sentimental.

For this to rise to the top is a surprise, and for it to win an Oscar is bizarre. Guess it goes to show that anything is possible! So regardless of my thoughts, congratulation to the team.

Oscar winner "An Irish Goodbye" is a black comedy of sibling rivalry, with siblings who only have each other after the recent loss of their mother, a particularly Irish rural approach to grief .

Set in the rural Northern Irish countryside of County Antrim and tell us the reunion of the estranged McCaffrey brothers.

The sadness of the grieving process over the recent loss of their mother is accentuated by the wintry photography of the setting. Far from the emerald meadows typical of Ireland, these empty, melancholy landscapes are used to evoke the idea of rural isolation.

Turlough is the older brother, played by Seamus O'Hara, an actor we have seen in Game of Thrones and The Northman. Turlough, previously expatriated in London due to the loss of his father, has to take care of his younger brother Lorcan, who has an intellectual disability. Lorcan is played by James Martin, an actor the pair of directors discovered in the BBC's Ups & Downs. Fortunately, Lorcan's disability does not turn out to be a defining part of the script; instead, the core of the script is basically a sibling relationship.

The character of Lorcan, a headstrong farmer, turns out to be complex, mischievous and multifaceted, with some sharp dialogue towards his more reserved brother. Both have opposing desires as Lorcan sees his dreams of continuing to live and work on the family farm frustrated, because the pragmatic Turlough, wants to send him to live with his aunt at the other end of Ireland, to sell the farm and return to London. Something that alludes to the title of the short, to leave the party early, without warning.

The somewhat mouthy local parish priest, played brilliantly by Paddy Jenkins, takes it upon himself to assist the brothers with the final details of the wake and shows them a list of 100 unfulfilled wishes, which belonged to the boys' late mother. Lorcan takes it as an opportunity and will only agree to leave the farm once he and Turlough have fulfilled and completed each and every wish on their mother's list. Reluctantly, Turlough agrees to the deal, as a last tribute to his mother before selling the farm. By the way the short film has the bonus of having the voice of Michelle Fairley, known as Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones, to provide the voice of the brothers' mother from beyond the grave.

Both always carry their mother's ashes with them on a posthumous journey of realization. The spirit of the classic Irish comedy is ingrained in this short film.

A touching escapist but at the same time acidic and elegiac story about brotherhood, about learning to share the burden of difficult moments and making the most of the time we have.

*A more detailed review can be found on the youtube channel Kristonkino.