Maria McDernottroe Movies
Paul Quinn scripted and made his directorial debut with this period drama about middle-aged schoolteacher Kieran Johnson (James Caan), who finds evidence indicating that his real father was an Irish farmer and not a French seaman as he had been told. Since his mute and paralyzed mother offers no answers, he investigates by traveling to an Irish village with his teenage nephew (Jacob Tierney). After this prologue, the film flashes back to the family roots: Kieran's mother Fiona Flynn (Moya Farrelly) back home from convent school, catches the eye of dirt tenant farmer Kieran O'Day (Aidan Quinn). Their romance gets underway despite disapprovals from family and friends. Shown at 1998 film fests (Montreal, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aidan Quinn, James Caan, (more)
- 1997
Set in 1958, this drama chronicles the raising of an Irish housewife's socio-political consciousness over a ten year period. Desiring a better life for her son, the unmarried Maureen crosses the border into Northern Ireland to live in the town of Bogside in Derry. There she marries the easy-going but traditional-minded Barry who seems to value her more for her child-bearing capability than her mind. At first she seems doomed to a life of household drudgery and dullness, but as time passes she becomes acquainted with several, strong-minded local women who open her eyes amidst the turmoil and strife of a changing Northern Ireland. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rachel Dowling, Peter Mullan, (more)
In the Irish town of Kilshannon in the 1920s, a matriarchal clique of widows tightly sets the rules for behavior. Heading the town's ruling circle is the doughty Mrs. Counihan (Joan Plowright). The only non-widow in town is a reclusive middle-aged spinster, Miss O'Hare (Mia Farrow), who seems to be guarding some kind of secret. Crashing into this provincial coterie is dashing, urbane Edwina Broome (Natasha Richardson), who immediately starts feuding with O'Hare, for no apparent good reason. Broome mangles O'Hare's prize roses and bumps her skiff in a boat race. Counihan's dimwitted son, Godfrey (Adrian Dunbar), proposes marriage to Edwina. Eventually, the true motives of all involved are revealed. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Farrow, Joan Plowright, (more)
- 1987
- PG
The final film of legendary director John Huston was based on the closing story of James Joyce's Dubliners. Anjelica Huston is top-billed as Gretta Conroy, the niece by marriage of turn-of-century Irish spinsters Kate Morkan (Helena Carroll) and Julia Morkan (Cathleen Delany). At the home of these two curious ladies, Gretta is prodded into remembering her long-dead lover. She tearfully reveals to her husband (Donal McCann) that the deceased boy may well have died on her behalf. Her tale of woe bespeaks the sentiment shared by James Joyce: no matter how long in their graves, the dead will always influence the living. Adding to the film's elegiac quality, it stars Huston's daughter Anjelica and was co-written with his son Tony Huston. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, (more)
