Stella McCusker Movies
- 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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Samantha Morton, Ross McDade, (more)
Gillies MacKinnon directed this charming Irish romance, taking place in a small Irish village in 1957, just before the first television set makes an appearance in this conservative hamlet. There is a scandal in the village concerning the beautiful and independent Tara Maguire (Robin Wright) -- Tara is pregnant and refuses to identify the father. She goes into labor during Sunday Mass, which raises the ire of the parish priest (Alan Devlin), who thinks God will bring bad times down on the village for Tara's effrontery. The priest feels Tara should marry the local town constable, Sgt. Hagerty (Albert Finney), a dyspeptic reformed alcoholic who is in love with Tara. But she doesn't love Hagerty. This becomes particularly clear when a traveling band of actors known as the Playboys come into town. One of the players in the troupe, Tom Casey (Aidan Quinn), is caught by Tara stealing one of her chickens. But it is love at first sight, although it takes a while for their attraction to take root beyond some electric glances. Hagerty sees where the relationship is going and he is determined to undermine the burgeoning affair. Tara is wary and doesn't want to be dependent upon any man, even to the point of smuggling supplies to the Irish Republican Army. When Hagerty hears someone in the village is colluding with the IRA, he suspects Tom and throws him in jail. But Hagerty is a walking time bomb and finally his rage erupts with violent force. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Finney, Aidan Quinn, (more)
- 1992
The five Catholic youths in this grim story live in Northern Ireland, surrounded as they are by the armed-camp mentality of their adults. They steal a car for a bit of fun, and when they get back, the local IRA chapter sets out to teach them civic responsibility, IRA-style, by breaking one of gang's fingers. They aren't particularly impressed with this lesson and decide that it's the IRA that needs some lessons. This leads to an ever-increasing scale of confrontations between the reckless youths and various authorities and would-be authorities, leavened only by the youngsters' grim, graveyard humor. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bronagh Gallagher
- 1987
Sylvestra Le Touzel stars in Naming the Names. Le Touzel portrays Finn McQuillen, a political activist at large in contemporary Belfast. Her devotion to her nationalistic cause results in betrayal and tragedy. Though described tersely as a "crime drama" in most TV listings, the film is thought-provoking enough to transcend its genre. Made for British TV in 1987, Naming the Names premiered in America in March of 1988 through the facilities of the A&E cable network. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
