Marc O'Shea Movies
An Irish boy becomes an emotional and sexual outcast as the 1960s fade into the 1970s in this period drama from director Neil Jordan. When he was just a baby in the early '60s, Patrick Braden (Conor McEvoy) was abandoned by his mother and left on the doorstep of a church overseen by Father Bernard (Liam Neeson). Placed in a foster home, sensitive Patrick doesn't much care for the emotionally chilly attitude of his new "family," and psychologically buffers himself against the world by writing stories that make fun of Father Bernard and the other authority figures in his life. As he grows into adulthood, Patrick (played as an adult by Cillian Murphy) also discovers that he enjoys dressing in women's clothes and prefers the company of men, and as a teenager he falls into an affair with Billy Hatchet (Gavin Friday), a nightclub performer who also runs guns for the Irish Republican Army. In the early '70s, Patrick -- who has since taken on the drag name "Kitten" -- makes his way to London, where he becomes involved with Bertie (Stephen Rea), a small-time nightclub magician who gives the young man a place to say, a sense of security, and a job as his on-stage assistant. However, Patrick's idyllic life with Bertie proves short-lived when his old friends come to town on IRA "business." Breakfast on Pluto also features a supporting performance from former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cillian Murphy, Stephen Rea, (more)
For I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, director Mike Hodges re-teams with Trevor Preston, the respected British television writer with whom he made a series of documentaries for ITV back in the 1960s. The film also brings the director together again with actor Clive Owen, the star of his previous film, Croupier, which signaled Hodges' resurgence. Owen plays Will Graham, a former London gangster who moved out to the country after suffering a breakdown of some sort. Will works clearing forests, and lives out of his van, until he loses his job over a lack of proper documentation. Meanwhile, Will's younger brother, Davey, is enjoying his life as a womanizing man about town, and dabbling in drug dealing, until one night, when an older man, Boad (Malcolm McDowell), has him followed and brutally assaults him. The traumatized Davey returns home and takes his own life. Will, uncertain as to where to go, finds himself drawn back to London, where he learns of Davey's death from Mrs. Barz (Sylvia Syms), his landlady. Will investigates what happened that night with his old friend, Mickser (Jamie Foreman). As Will tries to piece together what happened, he goes to visit Helen (Charlotte Rampling), his former lover, who is less than thrilled to see him after he abandoned her years earlier and eventually cut off all contact. The current neighborhood crime boss, Turner (Ken Stott), knows what Will is capable of, and sees him as a threat. Eventually, Will uncovers the truth, and is faced with the unpleasant prospect of avenging Davey's death. Screenwriter Preston took the title for the film from a sardonic song by the late Warren Zevon. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi
- Starring:
- Clive Owen, Charlotte Rampling, (more)
- 2001
Fate turns the most lovelorn man in Belfast into a sexual dynamo in this eccentric comedy. Eamonn (Kris Marshall) is a physically unimpressive and socially inept 24-year-old virgin who lives in Belfast with his mother (Olivia Nash), who conceived Eamonn during a one-night-stand with a low-rent lounge singer passing through town. Eamonn is far too shy to ask a girl out on a date, and his appearance hardly has the ladies lining up around the block, but one day local sexpot Mary Malloy (Tara Lynne O'Neill), figuring she's made her way through nearly every other man in town, decides to take the initiative with Eamonn. To Mary's surprise, she discovers Eamonn is a sexual prodigy with a physical gift that would make the late John Holmes proud, and with one satisfied woman under his belt, Eamonn finally works up the nerve to ask out Rosie (Kathy Kiera Clarke), a girl from a nearby funeral home. But before Eamonn can actually take Rosie out on the town, Mary learns she's pregnant, even though she was using birth control. A doctor discovers that Eamonn has a remarkably high sperm count, and with birth rates plummeting among Ireland's Catholic families, Millicent (Bronagh Gallagher) gets the idea of hiring Eamonn out to father children with women whose husbands have been unable to do the job; Eamonn even does so with the blessings of the local Catholic clergy, who find Eamonn's "service" less morally problematic than artificial insemination. The Most Fertile Man in Ireland marked the directorial debut of actor Dudi Appleton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kris Marshall, Bronagh Gallagher, (more)
- 1997
Mary McGuckian wrote and directed this "Romeo and Juliet"-style story set in Northern Ireland after the 1994 cease fire. Young Hazel Stokes (Samantha Morton) is very much a part of her family's austere, rural Protestant way of life, and her family, despite the cease-fire, feels betrayed by the British. Her neighbor, Old Man Jacobs (Richard Harris) befriends Hazel and convinces her parents to let her go out more often. When Hazel and Jacobs attend a Belfast agricultural show, she meets young Catholic Malachy McAliskey (Ross McDade), and a doomed affair develops during clandestine meetings. Malachy's older brother Padhar (John Lynch) approves of the romance, but his unit leader in the militant underground, Rohan (Gabriel Byrne) is concerned over Malachy's lack of "allegiance to the cause." At the same time, Hazel's brother Jef (Marc O'Shea) spies on Hazel and informs her mother (Dearbhla Molloy). Eventually, the innocent couple is surrounded by violence. Music by the Waterboys, Mike Scott, and Brian Kennedy. Shown at the 1997 London Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Samantha Morton, Ross McDade, (more)
- 1994
A teenager from Belfast finds himself caught between IRA and Loyalist battles in this drama. 17-year old Benny, a delinquent, favors neither side of the Irish conflict. He finds refuge in a rural school near the southern Irish border. The school is headed by a woman who set it up as a neutral outpost for young people. She is assisted by a former priest who is also her sometime lover. She finds herself sexually attracted to Benny. Problems ensue when the janitor, a stoolie for the local cops, is murdered. Benny gets tarred and feathered by the IRA and the British Army and the Loyalists are out to destroy the headmistress and the ex-priest. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frances Tomelty, Alan Devlin, (more)
