An Irish Goodbye

Oscar winner "An Irish Goodbye" is a black comedy of sibling rivalry, with siblings who only have each other after the recent loss of their mother, a particularly Irish rural approach to grief .

Set in the rural Northern Irish countryside of County Antrim and tell us the reunion of the estranged McCaffrey brothers.

The sadness of the grieving process over the recent loss of their mother is accentuated by the wintry photography of the setting. Far from the emerald meadows typical of Ireland, these empty, melancholy landscapes are used to evoke the idea of rural isolation.

Turlough is the older brother, played by Seamus O'Hara, an actor we have seen in Game of Thrones and The Northman. Turlough, previously expatriated in London due to the loss of his father, has to take care of his younger brother Lorcan, who has an intellectual disability. Lorcan is played by James Martin, an actor the pair of directors discovered in the BBC's Ups & Downs. Fortunately, Lorcan's disability does not turn out to be a defining part of the script; instead, the core of the script is basically a sibling relationship.

The character of Lorcan, a headstrong farmer, turns out to be complex, mischievous and multifaceted, with some sharp dialogue towards his more reserved brother. Both have opposing desires as Lorcan sees his dreams of continuing to live and work on the family farm frustrated, because the pragmatic Turlough, wants to send him to live with his aunt at the other end of Ireland, to sell the farm and return to London. Something that alludes to the title of the short, to leave the party early, without warning.

The somewhat mouthy local parish priest, played brilliantly by Paddy Jenkins, takes it upon himself to assist the brothers with the final details of the wake and shows them a list of 100 unfulfilled wishes, which belonged to the boys' late mother. Lorcan takes it as an opportunity and will only agree to leave the farm once he and Turlough have fulfilled and completed each and every wish on their mother's list. Reluctantly, Turlough agrees to the deal, as a last tribute to his mother before selling the farm. By the way the short film has the bonus of having the voice of Michelle Fairley, known as Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones, to provide the voice of the brothers' mother from beyond the grave.

Both always carry their mother's ashes with them on a posthumous journey of realization. The spirit of the classic Irish comedy is ingrained in this short film.

A touching escapist but at the same time acidic and elegiac story about brotherhood, about learning to share the burden of difficult moments and making the most of the time we have.

*A more detailed review can be found on the youtube channel Kristonkino.

All the attention this year has been on the banshees of inisherin, a plodding and wooden film, yet this short film was streets ahead. It shows the interaction between a dedicated but handicapped lad and his disinterested brother. The relationship is fantastic and james martin himself should have gotten an Oscar for his part. Brilliantly played. I deliberately gave it one star less than a full 10, as the film had the appearances that it was actually shortened, possibly to ensure it was classified as a short film. But it would have been great to have it stretched to at least an hour. Far more believable than the dire banshees.

Paddy Jenkins ("Father O'Shea") acts well as the conduit here between two brothers who are unexpectedly reunited by the death of their mother. "Turlough" (Seamus O'Hara) has left Northern Ireland to work in Engand and when he returns, is set on selling the family home still lived in by his younger brother "Lorcan" who has Down Syndrome. As you'd expect, the humour here is dark ("is she still warm?") and the language quite ripe, but this has a wonderful honesty to it as the latter lad tries to work his way through a list of one hundred things their mum wanted to do before she died! There's some fun with an urn and some ti-chi, and they even go into space - well, sort of! Good fun with strong undercurrents of family, love and affection.

Seamus O'Hara returns to the family farm and his pugnacious brother James Martin. Their mother has died, and what are they to do with the acres.... and James. Before they do anything else, they agree to do the one hundred tasks on their mother's bucket list.

Difficult families are one of the basic tropes of good story-telling, from Oedipus Rex on, and this falls into that category, with some ill-tempered sullenness and awkward silences in between the increasingly odd and downright fanciful quests of the late old woman, poor woman.

And now I had better end this review before I begin to sound like Barry Fitzgerald in THE QUIET MAN.

I have now rewatched this film 5 times and each time note a different nuance, expression or film angle.

The script is hilarious throughout, mightily irreverent but laugh out loud funny.

It finished leaving the question "what next" for the brothers. But I see only a very happy ending.

For only three actors to produce such a slick coherent work is remarkable. Well done to all three. The northern Irish accent can some times be difficult to interpret but I heard every syllabul. The opening sequence of the bleak open moorland leading to the family home echoed the plot of the bereaved brothers.

A masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.