Martin Duffy Movies

Director Martin Duffy adapts author Rhidian Brook's popular children's book concerning British bard and Celtic shaman Taliesin in this family oriented religious drama starring Jonathan Pryce and John-Paul Macleoud, and featuring the final screen appearance of acclaimed actor Ian Bannen. Dejected when his parents announce their plans to dissolve the marriage, bookish twelve year old Taliesin (Macleod) turns to faith healing as a means of coping with his deep-rooted malaise. In the aftermath of the divorce, Taliesin moves in with his father (Pryce) and older brother (Matthew Rhys) and finds himself drawn to first an atlas and later an illustrated Bible. Later taking piano lessons from a man named Billy (Bannen) who moonlights as a faith healer, the impressionable young boy witnesses one of his instructor's hands-on sessions and begins asking profound questions about faith when prayer cures him of an inexplicable wart affliction. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This sprightly, nostalgic and ultimately sentimental Irish drama is suitable for family viewing. It centers on an 8-year-old boy who devises an imaginative way to cope with his grief and loneliness after his father dies. Set in Dublin around 1960, the tale centers on Harry Cronin, who decides, in the face of his elder brother's neglect and his father's death that he and his dog are aliens on a special mission from Mercury. Fueled by his love of old Flash Gordon films, he constructs an elaborate scenario in which he must report on all aspects of Earthling life. Along the way, he must somehow muster his alien powers to dispatch with the school bully, whom Harry likens to Emperor Ming. Things don't get much better though and Harry gets impatient for his fellow spacemen to come and rescue him. Then he meets a wealthy young boy, who shows how wonderful family life can be. Harry's mother is naturally worried by her son's increasing emotional withdrawal, but nothing she does seems to help. Fortunately for her, weird aging biker, Uncle Tony shows up. An undisputed outsider himself, it is he who is finally able to reach Harry and help him deal with life. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this film, a teenage Irish Catholic girl, Goretti (Emer McCourt) falls in love as only a 15-year-old can, and is carried away by the power of her feelings. Innocent teenage worries over boyfriends, girlfriends, and peer standing provide a context for Goretti's life before she falls in love. She soon defies the restrictions of her upbringing, and, because contraception is forbidden by her religious belief, she discovers that she is pregnant. Her lover cannot face the responsibility of fatherhood -- he writes her so from prison, where he was sent by the British soldiers after being accused of a crime he did not commit. Abortion is out of the question. Although Goretti has the support of her best friend and confidant, a downward spiral begins as she cannot face her Catholic family with the truth of her condition. Goretti seems to be waging a losing battle against a culture itself in conflict, as the presence of the British soldiers makes clear. This excellent exploration of a young girl's broader identity assumes an increasingly bleak and dark mood, as the story of Goretti unfolds on all levels. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The famous Irish writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) is not interviewed in this documentary on his life and work, but the film was made with his cooperation. Excerpts from his plays, perhaps the most well-known being Waiting for Godot, are performed (in archival footage) by such thespians as Billie Whitelaw and Patrick Magee, and Beckett's early years in Ireland with his family are shown in black-and-white photographs. Beckett's inherently reclusive and obsessive nature is brought forward in the visual and written source materials. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi