Ciaran Fitzgerald Movies

John Boorman, who won the 1998 Cannes Film Festival's Direction award for this film, previously won the same Cannes award almost three decades earlier for his Leo the Last (1969) about an alienated aristocrat in a London slum. Shot in widescreen color (but printed in sharp black-and-white), The General is a biographical portrait of ruthless Irish crime lord Martin Cahill, shot down outside his home by a single assassin on August 18, 1994. After this opening, the film then unfolds as a lengthy flashback of the events that led to his death, sketching in the raw beginnings of the youthful Martin (Eamonn Owens of The Butcher Boy) and moving into the Dublin slum of Hollyfield to show the adult Cahill (Brendan Gleeson) and his link to a local cop, Inspector Ned Kenny (Jon Voight). Various thefts enable Cahill to support his wife Frances (Maria Doyle Kennedy), his four children, and his sister-in-law Tina (Angeline Ball). As the years pass, Cahill rises as a mobster, bamboozling cops, constructing airtight alibis, pulling off a near-impossible jewel heist, and setting up a menage a trois with Frances and Tina. (Both actresses were seen previously in Alan Parker's The Commitments). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

The debut feature from writer/director David Keating, The Last of the High Kings is the coming-of-age story of Frankie Griffin (Jared Leto), a 17-year-old virgin in 1977 Dublin. Convinced he is about to flunk out of school and forlorn over the recent death of Elvis Presley, Frankie decides to throw a beach party. With his hormones raging, he finds himself trying to decide between two possible gal-pals: Jayne (Lorraine Pilkington) and Romy (Emily Mortimer). Frankie's life becomes a little more difficult with the arrival of an American family friend Erin (Christina Ricci). Gabriel Byrne, who co-wrote the screenplay with Keating, also stars as Frankie's father, Jack Griffin. Based on a novel by Ferdia Mac Anna, The Last of the High Kings won second place at the 1997 Emden International Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Northern Ireland's civil unrest is the backdrop for this tense drama. In Belfast in 1975, a bomb blast rips open a pub in a Protestant neighborhood, killing the patrons inside. Following this attack, representatives from the Irish Republican Army and local Loyalist forces call a mutual truce, which angers foot soldiers on both sides of the fence. Kenny (James Frain) is the leader of a rabid anti-IRA faction. His best friend is Ginger (Ian Hart), a violent man who has no remorse about killing Catholics. Kenny and Ginger wait out the truce alongside Leonard (Michael Gambon), politically the best-informed of Kenny's group; Eddie (Gary Lydon), Kenny's second in command; and Tommy (Ruaidhri Conroy), a teenager new to the fighting. Ann (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Kenny's former wife, has become involved with a kind man named Liam (John Lynch). While Liam is apolitical, he's a practicing Catholic, which, combined with Kenny's jealousy, puts his life in great danger as he tries to find his way home using a supposedly safe route. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Mike Newell directs Jim Sheridan's screenplay (based on a story by Tim Palmer) in this enchanting and magical modern-day fairy tale. Gabriel Byrne plays Papa Reilly, a widower who lives with his two young sons, Ossie (Ciaran Fitzgerald) and Tito (Ruaidhri Conroy), in the slums of Dublin. There seems to be no hope for their bleak existence until the children's grandfather (David Kelly) arrives. Accompanying him is a beautiful and imposing white stallion named Tir na nOg, a magical creature from ancient Irish legends. The stallion takes a shine to the boys and they love the horse in return. But a legion of corrupt police plot to impound the horse for the purpose of selling it to a rich businessman. Ossie and Tito sneak off to rescue Tir na nOg. Grabbing the stallion, they get their father and, as the police chase after them, they make their way west. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi