Irish Pictures

<i>Gold</i> reflects on the rights and roles of parents…
…as does another film at the festival, <i>Boogaloo</i>.

This year’s Irish Film Festival at the Somerville Theatre features Gold, about an estranged father who returns to his family and nearly wrecks all of their lives. It’s a roaring good comedy, at least to many Irish moviegoers and others who enjoy the country’s traditional brew of offbeat, dark, or piercing works. “When you’re done with your shamrocks and shillelaghs,” suggests festival director Dawn Morrissey, “come see the real Ireland.” Held March 19-22 in Davis Square, the festival offers about 45 titles, including two Oscar nominees: An Bronntanas, a thriller, and Boogaloo and Graham, a short from Northern Ireland.(The latter also highlights parents’ life choices, as in threats to baby chicks that two young brothers have vowed to keep and raise themselves.)  The volunteer-run festival is in its fifteenth year, and gives out awards, such as best “Global Vision Documentary,” thus some of the directors and actors are also on hand and gladly discuss their work. Musicals, or movies that showcase Irish music, are always on the program, too, typically as the grand finale on Sunday afternoon—followed by a reception at The Burren, a traditional Irish pub down the street. Upward of 3,000 people turn out for the four-day event, many of them Irish-born, or close to it. “We have parties after the shows every night, open to everyone,” says Morrissey, who is from County Kildare; most patrons don’t wait until Sunday “to go out for the craic, or a hooley.” That was especially evident last year when the charming and poignant documentary, The Irish Pub, was paired with Handing Down The Tunes, about the late, legendary musician Tommy McCarthy (whose son, Tommy McCarthy Jr., owns The Burren). Celebrants leaving the shows brought Davis Square the closest it may ever come to Dublin.

 

 

 

Click here for the March-April 2015 issue table of contents

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown

You might also like

Faith through Film

The “Accidental Talmudist” on making Jewish movies

Remembering Earl Kim

A documentary revisits the composer and Harvard professor’s music.

Staging Memory

The A.R.T. adapts The Odyssey.

Most popular

The New Gender Gaps

What to do as men and boys fall behind

Danielle Allen Debates Far-Right Blogger Curtis Yarvin

Popular monarchist debates Allen on democracy.

Harvard President Responds to Secretary of Education

Alan Garber outlines steps the University has taken, and emphasizes compliance with the law.

Explore More From Current Issue

Publications by Harvard Authors Spring 2025: New Releases

Operatic counterculture, a Passover graphic novel, James Joyce’s biographer, and more

The Franklin Stove—A Historical Climate Change Adaptation

Historian Joyce E. Chaplin reinterprets an early era of invention, industrialization, and climate challenge