Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl (2005)

Director:

Perry Ogden

Writers:

Perry Ogden (writer)
Mark Venner (writer)

Release Date:

17 February 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An intimate portrait of a resilient and spirited young girl and her proud and dignified family, who are part of Ireland's "traveller" community.

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Winnie Maughan	...	Winnie
Rose Maughan	...	Mum
Rosie Maughan	...	Rosie
Paddy Maughan	...	Leroy
Michael Collins	...	Uncle Martin
Helen Joyce	...	Marie
Abbie Spallen	...	Shannon
Brian Dignam	...	Council Man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Angel	...	Arcade cashier
Joy Astin	...	African hair dresser
Linda Balogun	...	African hair dresser
Jacqui Caulfield	...	Head teacher
Hannah Cawley	...	Campfire traveler
Patrick Cawley	...	Paki
Thomas Cawley	...	Campfire traveler
Willie Cawley	...	Old Willie
Michael Chang	...	Person in arcade
Elaine Collins	...	School kid
Julie Collins	...	School kid
Michael James Collins	...	School kid
Sheila Collins	...	School kid
Tara Crooke	...	Bridal shop assistant
Balaram Das	...	Person in arcade
Moksa Rupa Dasi	...	Person in arcade
Sai Rupa Das	...	Person in arcade
Viswambhar Das	...	Person in arcade
John Dooley	...	Prison officer
Rachel Freeman	...	Bride in bridal shop
Peter Ho	...	Person in arcade
Joss Ivaneiue	...	Prison officer
Sharon Jones	...	School kid
Bernard Joyce	...	School kid
Catherine Joyce	...	School kid
Chris Joyce	...	School kid
Diana Joyce	...	School kid
Elaine Joyce	...	School kid
Joe Joyce	...	School kid
John Joyce	...	Big John
Margaret Joyce	...	School kid
Marie Joyce	...	School kid
Melissa Joyce	...	School kid
Patrick Joyce	...	School kid
Philomena Joyce	...	School kid
Sheila Joyce	...	School kid
Teresa Joyce	...	School kid
Emer Keeling	...	Doctor
Alan Lien	...	Person in arcade
Bridget Maughan	...	School kid / traveler girl
Donna Maughan	...	Traveler girl
James Maughan	...	Dan
Kathleen Maughan	...	School kid / traveler girl
Lisa Maughan	...	Lisa
Margaret Maughan	...	School kid
Martin Maughan	...	Ladeen
Mary Maughan	...	Campfire traveler
Mary Kate Maughan	...	Kate
Neil Maughan	...	Traveler girl
Ria Maughan	...	School kid
Joseph McDonell	...	Fork-lift driver
Ciaran McMahon	...	Garda sergeant
Nicky Murphy	...	Garda
Bonnie O'Brian	...	Fortune teller
Gerry O'Brien	...	Prison officer
Creona O'Connor	...	Helen
Uyi Oghobaghose	...	African hair dresser
James O'Reilly	...	School kid
Willy Price	...	City council worker
Deeke Rivers	...	Mobile diner man
Oonagh Ryan	...	Children's psychologist
Ericka Saltenete	...	Russian shop assistant
Hui Sang	...	Person in arcade
Madhava Smullen	...	Person in arcade
Lisa Tighe	...	Bridal shop assistant
Michael Ward	...	School kid
Eilish Whelan	...	Teacher

Runtime:

France:87 min | UK:88 min | Canada:87 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Ireland:PG | UK:15 | Sweden:7

Filming Locations:

Com Hair Salon, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

An Lár Films

Trivia:

Also selected for the following film festivals: - Galway Film Fleadh (2005) Best Feature Film Award - Venice Film Festival/ Critic's Week (Sept. 2005) - Leeds Film Festival (2005) - Festival Cine de Gijon (2005) - Mannheim Film Festival (2005) (Rainer Werner Fassbinder Prize/The Ecumenical Jury Prize) - Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Nov. 2005) - London Film Festival (2005) - 35th New Directors New Films Festival (New York 2006) - Buenos Aires 8th International Festival of Independent Films (Argentina,2006) - Indie Lisboa (Portugal, 2006)

Quotes:

Rosie: Boring, isn't it?
Winnie: Yeah.

Soundtrack:

Because the Night

Lack of budget is no excuse for lack of structure

Let me say, straight away, that I am always suspicious of films that set themselves among the most under-privileged. There seems, for the most part some element of directors gazing down with virtuous intent from a great height onto these poor sods.

Pavee Lackeen suffers less than most from this syndrome, but it falls into the trap of thinking that a slice of life is the same thing as a slice of cinema. It isn't.

Two things stick out like a sore thumb in this film. The first is that it has no dramatic structure. We join the family of travellers on whom it focuses at, apparently, some random moment, some things happen, and then we leave them at another apparently equally random moment. On the way, have we seen character development? No. Have we been given any insight into the human psyche? No.

What we have had is a glimpse into the life of a young traveller girl, who is full of fun and life, and has lots of problems. We are sorry for her (we were probably that within five minutes of the start). We have learnt a few things about the way that travellers live in outer Dublin - but less than we might have by reading a well-written newspaper article.

At the screening I attended, the director, a nice man and former still photographer, declared himself to be in the line of film-making that came from Alan Clarke and early Ken Loach - that later Loach films, he thought, we too contrived. Hmmm. Yes. That says it all.

Here we have a naive belief that to film 'reality' without interference is art if that reality features the under-privileged. It isn't.

The director pointed out that it was shot on a miniscule budget (£320,000) - and, in fairness, he wasn't saying that this meant we had to make allowances.

It would be my belief that one of the most important things in a film is what is taken out. I don't mean edited. I mean that as much of what we see must be expressive and not confuse the viewer as to what each shot is about. Here, everything is cluttered and unstructured. I am not looking for 'beautiful squalor', but I am looking for some obvious attempt by the filmmakers to direct my eyes in a particular direction. I don't see it.

The 'acting' by these mainly non-professionals is fine. The archetypes created as characters are fine. But there is no structure and no visual strategy... that is, until the last shot, when the camera which has been jiggling about like a yo-yo for the rest of the film, is allowed to come to rest and in a single shot, say more about the plight of the characters than the previous 90 minutes - and for the first time, it uses non-diegetic music!! Great!