Montlake Blog /comments

It must have been last weekend that I was surfing, looking for a theme to research. Something made me think of the Sheridan family. Here's how I came to know of them.

When I got back from Ireland in the fall of 2001, I was high on Irish, and I soon noticed that a film festival at Kennedy Center was featuring European films, two or three of which were Irish. I went to see them. The star of both was a young performer making his first films—Cillian Murphy. The one that really knocked me out was called Disco Pigs. Wow. Murphy and Elaine Cassidy were stupendous, but it was the film that was so dramatically unusual.

In trying to get a copy, I chanced upon the play script for the two person club routine (by Enda Walsh) that someone had seen and thought might make a good film. I bought it. It is nearly incomprehensible. Written in city of Cork dialect (and, evidently, intended for performance only there), it is almost impossible to see a connection with the film. But the film script was also done by Walsh, so the vision was secure. And the film was made by first-time director Kirsten Sheridan. It was done as a true indie, filmed in Dublin wherever they could find some space, probably for just a few thousand dollars.

In researching Ms Sheridan, I noticed that her dad ('da', in the brogue) is Jim Sheridan, a somewhat known film maker about my age. So, it was in the family.

It took forever to get a copy of Disco Pigs, finally buying one from London (and having to convert my equipment to all-world in the process—thanks!). Eventually, it was released in the US, and I sent my UK copy to an Irish correspondent who knew of Cillian Murphy.

Then, in 2002 Sheridan released his made-in-America film—In America—to rave reviews, and he and his daughters (co-writers) were nominated for that year's Academy Award for screen writing.

You might know Sheridan, too, as the director of the well reviewed film Brothers, currently playing.

But I hadn't heard much if anything about Kirsten during the past several years, and I focused on her during my little surf session last weekend. And I was rewarded with the discovery that she had released a film—as director—in 2007, August Rush. Unfortunately, Roger Ebert hadn't reviewed it, but because of our connection (too bad Kirsten doesn't know about it), I bought a copy.

The Amazon citizen reviews were generally quite good, but it was pretty clear that it tended toward a degree of melodrama that everyone around the world loves except for Americans.

Tonight was August Rush night, and oh my gosh, it is good. Plenty of melodrama, but in that Irish mystical, fantasy sense that has plenty of examples in addition to Ms Sheridan's film. And it is so wonderfully made I was bursting with pride. And we don't even know each other. Does she even know I discovered her?

The acting is wonderful, and this is no indie film as far as budget is concerned. Even Robin Williams has a small part (in his best type of role, dirty old man). You will know the stars much better than I. Their names ring slightly familiar, but for all I know they're big stars. A couple of the truly young roles were played by actors who are simply frighteningly good—you don't want to know how they got that way.

American viewers might find it odd that although half the cast is American, the other half (the rough male half) is Irish. She put her foot down for her people, the money people bought it, and it works! But of course I'm prejudiced.

My little surf session yielded a couple other films. I was investigating the two little girls of In America, and saw that both have been active in the intervening years. And growing up, of course. I think the older girl plays teen roles now, but her sister—Emma Bolger—plays young girls in the couple films she made. I bought Heidi, as much because of the citizen reviews as for our connection (unknown to her).

If you're a young(er) person, I suspect you will like August Rush. Older folks might need to have the sort of familiarity with Ms Sheridan that I claim, to get enough out of it. But who knows.

Gosh, I love connections...