Zonad (2009)

When the Cassidy family finds a red leather clad man passed out on their living room floor, they assume he's an alien. Zonad is more than happy to oblige.

Directors:

John Carney, Kieran Carney

Writers:

John Carney, Kieran Carney

Stars:

David Murray, Kevin Maher, Donna Dent

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
David Murray	...	Benson
Kevin Maher	...	Jimmy Cassidy
Donna Dent	...	Mary Cassidy
Rory Keenan	...	Guy Hendrickson
Geoff Minogue	...	Richard Cassidy
David Pearse	...	Francis O'Connor / Bonad
Janice Byrne	...	Jenny Cassidy
Simon Delaney	...	Liam Murphy / Zonad
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Andrew Bennett	...	Mr. Madigan
Niamh Burke	...	Girl in Car 2
Bernie Butler	...	Local Woman (as Bernadette Butler)
Kevin Cleary	...	School Nerd
Denis Conway	...	Doctor Glonad
William Craul	...	Petrol Pump Attendant
Brian de Salvo	...	Dr. Ziegler

Storyline

In the small Irish town of Ballymoran, the Cassidy family finds a red leather clad man passed out on their living room floor. The logical conclusion that they come to is that he must be an alien. When the alcoholic rehab escapee awakens, he continues the ruse and passes himself off as Zonad, an alien who has landed on their planet. Life is grand for Zonad as he becomes an instant celebrity who gets free beer, a nice house, and lots and lots of women throwing themselves at him. But when a town resident becomes suspicious and fellow rehab-escapee-turned-alien, Bonad, shows up, Zonad may not be able to continue living the charmed life.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | escapee | alcoholic | con artist | fancy dress | 

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Taglines:

From Space... (Probably)

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Ireland

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 March 2010 (Ireland)

Filming Locations:

Woodenbridge, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Element Pictures, Screen Ireland

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.77 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The camera used for filming had to be specially adapted to use different lenses. A result of this was that all the footage was filmed upside-down. This meant that monitors were normally also turned upside-down to make the picture the right way up. When reshoots were filmed, the camera used did not have to have these adjustments made, meaning all of this footage was normal.

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Goofs

When Jimmy is running alongside Guy he is wearing a normal tie, but minutes later they arrive at the car and he now has a bow tie on.

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Quotes

Declan Fitzgerald: We cannot give out free beer to every spaceman in town.

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Connections

Spoofs West Side Story (1961)

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Soundtracks

Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)
Music by Al Hoffman, words by Dick Manning ©1956
Published by Campbell Connelly & Co Limited/EMI Music Publishing Ltd/Peter Maurice Music Co Ltd
Performed by Michael Dees

User Reviews

Please stay in your galaxy far, far away.

Zonad (2009)

Why, John Carney, why? It is very difficult to believe that the man who had already brought us the subtle winner "Once" and will later give us the musical delights "Begin Again" & "Sing Street" also directed this. Yes. In the beginning, there was "Zonad". (It actually began as the never released 2003 short.)

It could have been endearing. It could have actually been a science fiction film. It could have been a romantic comedy that actually worked. Instead, it was an unsophisticated travesty comedy in which two alcoholics, Liam and Francis, escape a treatment center and fool an entire Irish town into believing they are Zonad and Bonad, visitors from another planet This is based almost entirely on the use of some bright vinyl material and a helmet. At first, I thought Zonad's staccato speech pattern was his lame attempt at trying to sound foreign. Then, when I saw all the other poor acting performances, some of which had weird speech patterns as well, I began to think it was merely poor acting. Then, towards the end when he started to talk more regularly when he was not incognito, I switched back to my original understanding. At the conclusion of the film, I was more confused than ever because he seemed to do it to varying degrees whether or not he was posing as an intergalactic traveler.

The Good: * Indicatively, the best and most memorable minutes of this film were the two musical numbers performed by Zonad. The first, a solo he sings (accompanied by piano keyboard) in front of the girls in Ballymoran, "Mysterious Girl". The second, the closing scene in the town bar, "I'm Sorry".

* There were some funny moment and one-liners, though they were few and far between.

The Bad: * Not believable in the least.

* Very few actually humorous moments. Compared to the rest of the film that was inundated with failed attempts at such, one would be logically led to believe that the moments that worked could be attributed to pure chance.

The Ugly: *The acting. All around. Nothing else to be said. Excruciatingly bad.

*Sans a few rare scenes, not really fun to watch; but, even worse, not even an anecdotal lesson to compensate. The main character collects free alcohol, food, and rent, taking advantage of not only the Cassidys but the entire town. His escaped alcoholic center companion preys on all the women in the city. Then they are found out and forced to leave. The end.

You can see his Carney's quirky personality in "Zonad", but executed tragically. The director and writers' genius lies in the beautiful marriage between film, music, and romantic stories. This marriage was a blind mess. Gratefully, I watched Carney's other films first. Otherwise I doubt I ever would have been granted the opportunity to fall in love with his oeuvre.