The Evolution of Film | Tracy Nyhan

Tracy Nyhan takes a look at some Irish movies that put the very success of the Cork Film Festival into context.Last week saw the Corona Cork Film Festival showcase the best that Ireland has to offer, with regards to film.  Corona Cork Film Festival brings the finest of cinema to Cork City every November. Established in 1956, the festival has developed an ever-increasing audience of the general public, film lovers and filmmakers. The programme is wide-ranging, with an eclectic mix of big budget pictures, world cinema, innovative independent films, documentaries and short films from all over the globe. The festival is also a major showcase for Irish film production. Corona Cork Film Festival is held in high regard on a local, national and international level. In Cork City and the surrounding region, it is one of the most important events in the social and cultural calendar.This year’s Film Festival’s success is no different from previous years with features such as the world premiere of Martin McDonough’s Seven Psychopaths, the British comedy starring Colin Farrell and Meet Sminky feature which has attracted phenomenal interest. The twenty second Sminky animation advert for the festival attracted 10,000 views in less than twenty-four hours and sat on the top page of YouTube and on the number one spot of the site’s Entertainment section for a week. The advert now has almost 74,000 views to date, since November 3.With the success of all of these films, particularly home-grown ones, I decided to delve deeper and discover movies with our own Irish stamp firmly affixed upon them*. We all know the big Irish movies renowned the world over so you won’t find The Wind That Shakes The Barley here, let’s just say, it’s in a different league…*Warning: The quality of some of the movies mentioned below is not an adequate representation of the talent which resides on the island of Ireland and the potential of which it possesses.     Byzantium: So Neil Jordan tackled the vampire market once again. Having experienced tremendous success with Interview with a Vampire, starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, he’s no stranger to this genre. Based on a play by Moira Buffini and starring Bond girl Gemma Arteton and Irish actress Saoirse Ronan alongside Trainspotting and Elementary star Jonny Lee Miller, Byzantium tells the story of single mother, Clara and her daughter Eleanor. Clara is a prostitute who works in an arcade in a run-down setting by the sea. She is also a two hundred year old vampire - as is Eleanor – and feasts on human blood. They’re not regular vampires though; the sun doesn’t make them die or sparkle, instead they have incredibly sharp thumbnails that grow longer when they attack. Eleanor is conflicted by their lifestyle and this is called into question when Clara meets a young leukaemia sufferer (Caleb Landry Jones) and tells him her secret.Saoirse Ronan was impressive in her role as the young (old?) vampire/girl but I didn’t think Gemma Arteton displayed the same calibre. Additionally, the way it portrayed her job choice as a prostitute as her destiny didn’t sit well. It was a different portrayal of vampires to that which has become so popular in recent years, but it wasn’t particularly interesting and so, wasn’t a very good one. Maybe they shouldn’t have omitted the sharp teeth and made it more gory.It was partly filmed in the Beara peninsula, Castletownbere (where a waterfall was dyed red to resemble flowing blood), Dublin and the UK but the serene countryside isn’t enough to salvage the dull storyline. Dare I say I’d rather attend the Twilight marathon?     The Irish Vampire Goes West: Unfortunately, you didn’t misread that title. It’s a real movie, released in 2007 that, surprisingly, hasn’t been given half enough bad reviews. Its story is centred on the kidnapping of a Hollywood star, Manananaan, by a mysterious, eerie, “creature of the night”. Mara, her sister goes to Ireland to rescue her but the luck of the Irish soon turns against her. Sigh. She is constantly faced with the “reality” that at any moment, she may be confronted by vampires, eager to suck the love and imagination from her. The movie presents Ireland as a mystical island, in full conflict between good and evil. It reminded me of the kind of old Irish fable I may very well have heard countless times as a child. As well as having magical and demonic elements, the film has a poetic quality reminiscent of folklore tales. The woods, green marshlands, graveyards and abandoned houses were the highlights of a very typical and predictable film. The setting may be perfect to create an eerie feeling but from the beginning and when I heard “Marla journeys to de faraway Emerald Oisle. But once she arrived, de luck of de Irish turned against her”, the cringy-ness that unfolds with old, stereotypical representations of Ireland was too potent to take it seriously. They could have cut some of the “diddly-eye” music and took the time to oil the doors that creaked incessantly.Who knew vampires were such a popular inclusion in Irish movies? Rumour has it that a movie entitled Vampires Vs Leprechauns is being filmed in Northern Ireland and is to be released in 2013. I hope for the sake of our culture’s reputation that it is but a rumour.     Fatal Deviation: Finally, how does an Irish epic, action movie sound? One you can watch online in its entirety? Fatal Deviation is a low-budget (with an estimated budget of just £8,900) cult film produced and set in Trim, County Meath, Ireland. Produced in 1998, it enjoys the distinction of being Ireland's first full-length martial arts film. The film stars real-life martial arts enthusiast James Bennett and Boyzone’s Mikey Graham.The storyline is a worn-out, overused one; a karate martial arts expert goes on a hunt for his father’s murderer. He takes on an Irish gang and then ends up at the “prestigious” Bealtaine Martial Arts Tournament; a tournament run by monks who practice martial arts. There he meets an old monk who not only teaches him martial arts, but also taught his father before he was murdered. I didn’t see that one coming.I’ve never had a weakness for the ‘so bad, it’s good’ genre of films but if The Room, is what you’re into, then give this film a chance. You may just fall for its inherent flaws and overall awfulness.The movie went straight to DVD without a theatrical release (never a good sign) and in 2010, Cracked.com labelled the film "the worst film ever made". If a fast-paced, action-packed movie conveying unequalled martial art skills, this movie probably isn’t for you. On a cinematic level, even Boyzone’s Mikey Graham couldn’t save this movie. On an entertainment level, this is entirely worth taking a look at, if only to see how far Irish film, housing and supermarkets (the scene set in ‘Londis’ within the first few minutes is an invaluable contribution to the overall film) have really progressed.