Accomplished screenwriter Paul Fraser makes his understated directorial debut with a touching movie about three brothers on a sombre but absurdist road trip around Cork.

At the age of 17 aspiring writer Noel (Timmy Creed) is already weighed down by responsibility; taking over the dawn bread-run job from his father (Don Wycherley), who lies in bed slowly dying of lung cancer. When Noel steals his father’s watch to wear himself, a moment every bit as painful to watch as Hal taking the crown from the ailing Henry IV, he soon finds himself surreptitiously driving to Ballybunnion over the 1987 Halloween weekend to get a replacement from the arcade game where the original was won. Noel, however, has to make the trip not only with a bread-van with a comically obstinate door but with the unwelcome company of his younger brothers Paudie (Paul Courtney) and Scwally (TJ Griffin) after Scwally threatens to tell on him to their mother (Kate Ashfield).Breakdowns mechanical and emotional await them…

It’s displayed prominently on the posters but oddly enough the original soundtrack of acoustic guitars from Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody and his producer Jacknife Lee is intrusive and inconsequential. This film is all about the writing, and Will Collins’ IFTA-nominated script is remarkably adept at recreating a real 1980s Irish childhood without getting at all sentimental about it. If you remember RTE’s special 3-D movie presentation you’ll nod in recognition at Scwally’s eagerness to get the coloured glasses and be in front of a TV in time, but you’ll also wince in recognition at the calculated cruelty of Paudie in taking cereal toys Scwally wants because Scwally wants them. Producers Rob Walpole and Rebecca O’Flanagan premiered this film at Tribeca and despite being filmed entirely in Cork it’s a film with universally resonant characters, not least burdened hero Noel.

Timmy Creed is remarkable as Noel. He has the ability to switch from pragmatic adult to awkward teenager depending on where the scene finds Noel’s oscillating self-confidence. Griffin is charming as the enthusiastic 7 year-old Scwally, wielding a light-sabre despite never having seen Star Wars, and delighted to stow away with his big brothers but hurt by their pranks. Courtney gives the most difficult performance as his Paudie is a deeply obnoxious 12 year-old that we only slowly warm to. These three young actors carry the film as due to van trouble they are constantly the only characters onscreen; apart from a sequence with the great Sarah Greene as a publican who welcomes them, and a deeply unnerving encounter with a passing motorist that is one of the few missteps of the movie tonally in its rewriting of the past.

Fraser has written several Shane Meadows films and he and his screenwriter Collins, both being one of three brothers, succeed in their primary aim here – this feels utterly real.

3/5

I’ll admit I wasn’t taken by it at the start, the opening scene, although well crafted is not the best and the characters, until you settle into the performance, are a bit too over the top, too camp and most of all the lead character is just TOO loud. Don Wycherley shouting  would be my most major complaint, get a seat near the back it might not grate as much.

At 2hr 20 without the interval added in its not short but time flies by as the set whirls around the stage, and the choreography of set changes and the physical comedy adds to narrative rather than turning it into slapstick. The acting is good although some characters appear flatter than others, Gary Cooke for example fails to impress.

But most of all what made the night for me is the way that Roddy Doyle has managed to take the original and make it not only Irish but of this time. The allegory is not overwhelming but there and the comedic inclusion of some many themes and memes  in the last few years of Irish life really connects with the audience.

In the end as a play it doesn’t bear a lot of analysis, it should be taken for what it is, good fun.

Haha. Just realised that Don Bastard Wycherley has been on twice already this morning gravelly (gravely? gravelllllly?) extolling the virtues of SuperValu. In a gravelly voice. But chewy at the same time. Oh, what am I like. Can I just advise the patrons of DCU or NUI or whoever that the ‘sunscreen’ meme is officially DEAD? Terminally, completely and totally out of date. I can guarantee that millions of people are turning off in their droves, when they hear that familiar plangent chord and realise with mounting hatred that they are about to be subjected to yet another moronic ad-man’s ‘witty’ retread of Baz Luhrmann’s annoying, inane, ‘maybe you will, maybe you won’t” TUNE OF BOLLOCKS. Because it was intensely annoying to begin with. In fact, as a direct result of exposure to this piece of hateful aural filth I am going to expressly FORBID any of my progeny to attend their rotten university. Now. Stick that up your bollocks and smoke it.

Regia: Paddy Breathnach

Cast: Lindsey Haun, Jack Huston, Max Kasch, Alice Greczyn, Maya Hazen, Don Wycherley, Sean McGinley,
Robert Hoffman

Distribuzione: Moviemax, Irlanda 2006

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Cinque studenti americani organizzano una vacanza in Irlanda per andare a trovare un amico. Tutti insieme poi decidono di recarsi in campeggio in un bosco alla ricerca di funghi allucinogeni. Il bosco in questione è isolato e oggetto di sinistre leggende. Dopo aver ingerito i funghi inziano ad accadere terribili episodi di sangue…Si tratta di eventi reali o dell’effetto dei funghi?

Sei ragazzi con un furgone che si recano in un bosco isolato sul quale aleggia un senso di morte… Quale cliché migliore per inziare un film horror?

Tuttavia occorre subito precisare che la pellicola in questione ha il merito di introdurre qualche novità: in primis il tema dell’uso di sostanze stupefacenti, che alterano la percezione della realtà e quindi rendono difficile comprendere se ciò che sta accadendo ai ragazzi sia reale o ”opera” dei funghi. Assistiamo infatti a dialoghi improbabili con mucche, ad immagini confuse e sovrapposte, ad apparizioni terribili e spettrali, forse influenzate dal racconto di Jack (Jack Huston) circa i fatti di sangue accaduti in quei luoghi…

Un’altra interessante e piacevole novità è rappresentata dalle musiche, affidate a Dario Marianelli, premio Oscar 2008 per la colonna sonora di “Espiazione“.

Shrooms ha molte, troppe caratteristiche del teen horror; ricorda da vicino “Venerdì 13“, “Non aprite quella porta“, “La maschera di cera“, “Il collezionista di occhi” solo per citarne alcuni, ma non ci crede fino in fondo: tenta varie strade ma poi le abbandona tutte fino a giungere a un finale che ricalca quello di un famoso film del genere (del quale non scriverò il titolo per non rovinare la sorpresa a coloro che andranno a vederlo).

Infine qualche parola sul cast, che dà vita a una buona prova: Lindsey Haun, protagonista tra l’altro de “Il villaggio dei dannati” di John Carpenter del 1995, e Robert Hoffman, attore e ballerino di talento, protagonista di “Step Up 2-La strada per il successo“.

Conclusione: Una pellicola estiva che dà qualche brivido.

Voto: 6