Film Tunes Into Irish Music:
The Boys and Girl
From County Clare
By Jan Aaron
St. Patrick’s day salutes Ireland’s
rich heritage, which includes the traditional toe-tapping
Ceili music highlighted in The Boys and Girl from County Clare. In Nicholas Adams’ screenplay, a Ceili music competition fuels
up the old resentments and smoldering rivalry between two long-feuding
brothers who’ve gone their separate ways.
Director John Irvin starts his film with grainy black and white footage
of three boys toe-tapping along while learning Ceili music,
which is supposed to set the stage for an age-old sibling
rivalry. The story shifts to the late 1960s when the
Beatles are taking the world and groups of Ceili musicians
are invading a small, picturesque Irish town, hosting an
important music competition. Among the rivals are Jimmy (Colm
Meaney) and John Joe (Bernard Hill), two of the three youngsters,
now grown men, reliving their old resentments.
Jimmy left town 20 years ago for Liverpool, five marriages and the life
of a successful businessman, leaving his brother to tend
the family’s farm. Now in County Clare, their rivalries
and resentments resurface. Unease between Jimmy and John
Joe builds on their past relationships to Maisie (Charlotte
Bradley), the pianist in the latter’s band. Caught
in the middle are Jimmy’s ace flutist Teddy (Shaun
Evans) and Joe’s star fiddler, Anne (Andrea Corr of
the Irish pop band, The Corrs), whose budding affair creates
all kinds of anxieties in her mother. Both young actors are
standouts in this film. Meaney’s raunchy mouthed Irishman
plays well against Hill’s soft edged sadness, especially
as they reconcile their differences. A third brother makes
a surprise visit.
While set up as the dramatic heart of the film, the music competition
comes and goes with surprisingly little fanfare, leaving
grudges and past traumas unresolved. The film deals with
these sensitivities after the competition in a tender and
gratifying way.
Star billing also should go to the remote, unspoiled locations on the
Isle of Man and in Northern Ireland, which stood in for the
West. Cinematography by Thomas Burstyn and period production
design by Tom McCullagh make everything look appropriate
and appealing. (PG-13; 90 minutes) #
