Black Irish Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Gregg Araki's stoner comedy Smiley Face (pictured) mysteriously received only a token theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York after receiving favorable reviews (including two from our own Jette Kernion and Monika Bartyzel) from a short run on the festival circuit. Now the rest of us can see it. The DVD from First Look includes a "making of" featurette; look for Erik's review of the DVD later on today.

Danny Boyle's 'space mission to repair the biggest star in the sky,' better known as Sunshine, inspired Nick Schager to describe it as "a gorgeously crafted intergalactic saga sorely lacking in originality or profundity." You know what that means -- it should be perfect on DVD! Fox Searchlight's release includes an audio commentary by Boyle, two short films with intros by Boyle, deleted scenes, web production diaries and an alternate ending.

I loved Emanuele Crialese's Respiro, which featured a great performance by Valeria Golino, so I'm eager to catch up with his latest film, The Golden Door. Eric D. Snider said that this "story of an Italian family emigrating to America circa 1900 ... completely immerses us in the images and sounds of its world." The Miramax DVD has a "making of" feature and an introduction by Martin Scorsese.

Black Irish should play very well on the small screen. As I've written before, the film "revolves around a sterling, thoroughly engaging performance by Michael Angarano as a high schooler in Boston coming to grips with his family and his future; the script and direction by Brad Gann is solid and features a few surprising, gentle twists." The DVD from Anywhere Road Entertainment includes a commentary track and a "behind the scenes" feature.

Also out this week: Eagle vs. Shark, "(in some ways) even better than Napoleon Dynamite," per Scott Weinberg, DarkBlueAmostBlack, "a subtle, rewarding exploration of family," according to Martha Fischer, and Klimt, an unconventional bio-pic by Chilean director Raúl Ruiz.

As a movie lover living in flyover country, three things keep me from watching every movie that comes out: time, money and opportunity. The first two limit how many I can afford to see, while the last limits what I can see, since not every movie plays in my neck of the woods. Faced with these limitations, I'm forever prioritizing: can I wait and watch it later on DVD or cable? Or is the film crying out to be seen right now on the big screen?

As I noted in my weekly Indie Weekend Box Office report, both Black Irish and Music Within opened last weekend and struggled to find audiences. Both appear to be relying chiefly on reviews and word-of-mouth rather than expensive advertising campaigns. Black Irish revolves around a sterling, thoroughly engaging performance by Michael Angarano as a high schooler in Boston coming to grips with his family and his future; the script and direction by Brad Gann is solid and features a few surprising, gentle twists. Music Within stars Ron Livingston as Richard Pimental, a real-life character who didn't find a direction in life until he lost his hearing during the Vietnam War. Ultimately he became a remarkably effective activist for the disabled.

I don't mean to damn the the films with faint praise -- I've seen and enjoyed both to varying degrees -- yet I'm not positive that they demand to be seen in a theater. They're small scale dramas with a degree of humor that would, most likely, play just as effectively on a small screen. If you have an affinity for the subject matter or like the actors, though, by all means seek them out. (Check the official sites for Black Irish and Music Within for more information.) As always, prioritize according to your own criteria.

I know I'm not the only one who was impressed with Michael Angarano when he appeared as Young William in Almost Famous. Since then, he's also picked some pretty killer roles, dipping his toes in both art-house and mainstream movies. He played Freddie in my favorite Lars von Trier-related flick, Dear Wendy, and then soared as Will Stronghold in Sky High -- one of my top family film picks in recent years. The kid knows how to pick roles, so I was pretty stoked when Peter Martin posted that his latest, Black Irish, found a distributor. What you might not realize is that it also has a trailer.

The first written-and-directed feature by Brad Gann, Irish is about a 15-year-old named Cole McKay -- yes, played by the 19-year-old-with-baby-cheeks Angarano -- who is itching for independence in his South-Boston Irish-Catholic family . His older brother (Tom Guiry) is being romanced by drugs and crime, his sister is about to become an unwed mother and his father is a self-pitying drunk. Cole's saving grace is baseball, and as he fights through his family's turmoil to make the state championships, "he must make a life and death decision, a decision that will change the McKay family forever."

Over at the film's website, you can see the trailer, which looks pretty good, save the cheesy wrap-up it has. It seems that Cole is also fighting against being drawn into his brother's ways, although Tom is also shown as fiercely protective -- in one clip from the trailer, he punches Francis Capra, who you might remember as Weevil from Veronica Mars. Any bets on that "life and death" decision being something about his troubled brother? Black Irish will get released some time this fall -- hopefully sooner rather than later.

This spring The Black Donnellys, a "coming of age" network television series created by Paul Haggis about four Irish brothers in crime-infested Hell's Kitchen in New York, crashed and burned. Last fall, Black Irish, a "coming of age" film written and directed by Brad Gann about an Irish family in South Boston, premiered at the Hamptons film festival before playing festivals in Palm Springs, Dallas and Newport Beach. I watched half a dozen episodes of The Black Donnellys; though it looked slick, I never believed a moment I saw. It was too schematic and self-consciously tough.

On the other hand, I caught a screening of Black Irish at AFI Dallas and was caught off guard by the quality of the script. The actions of the individual members of the family make sense, you get a feeling for each one's personality and the narrative avoids certain cliches. (For example, when the teen boy starts a romance with a pretty girl, we think it's going to lead to something more, but it doesn't.) The dialogue is sharp and the performances very engaging, especially the lead role inhabited by Michael Angarano. So I was very glad to see indieWIRE report that Anywhere Road has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film and plans to release it this fall.

Anywhere Road is an independent distribution company based in San Francisco. Formed early this year, its first release appears to be the fine Brazilian musical drama Antonia, which I wrote about last month; it's due on August 17. Black Irish also stars Tom Guiry (who played a similar character in The Black Donnellys) and Emily VanCamp as siblings, and Brendan Gleason and Melisso Leo as parents. More information is available at the film's official site. And, in case you're wondering, "black irish" refers to dark-haired Caucasian persons of Irish descent, according to Wikipedia.