Gerard Rooney Movies
- 1998
Henry Herbert directed this British drama, the first feature filmed in its entirety in Northern Ireland since the cease-fire. Colin Bateman scripted by adapting his novel, Cycle of Violence. Reporter Kevin Miller (Gerard Rooney) attends his father's wake, goes back to the office drunk, and is reassigned to cover events in the small border town of Crossmaheart where he meets Marie (Maria Lennon), girlfriend of a previous journalist who mysteriously vanished. When the body turns up, Marie departs, leaving Kevin to get to the bottom of the mystery. Shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerard Rooney, Maria Lennon, (more)
The magic of folklore forms the basis of this Irish tale by writer-director John Sayles. Adapted from the book Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, the 1940s story is told from the point-of-view of Fiona (Jeni Courtney), a young girl sent to live with her grandparents in an Irish fishing town. Her grandfather weaves grand stories about the family's evacuation from their home on the tiny island of Roan Inish and about his great-great grandfather, who once cheated death at the hands of the unforgiving sea. As she meets other villagers, Fiona hears even more personal stories about an uncle who married a beautiful, part-human/ part-seal and about how the sea stole her baby brother during the departure from Roan Inish. Later, Fiona believes that she has found Jamie romping in the grass on Roan Inish, and she must convince the family of her vision. While Roan Inish has the feel of a family film, it shares with other Sayles works a character who learns history through storytelling, such as Sam Deeds in Lone Star (1996) and Dr. Fuentes in Men with Guns (1997). Sayles builds cohesive stories from multiple voices, showing the importance of oral history and indicating that learning the past can alter the future. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mick Lally, Eileen Colgan, (more)
