Kate O'Toole Movies
- 2008
A girl experiences the joys and sorrows of adolescence in this comedy-drama set in 1979. Maeve (Ailish McCarthy) is a thirteen-year-old girl growing up in a small Irish town is keeps wondering when she's finally going to become a woman, as she's among the last in her group of friends to have her first period or need a bra. Not long after her mother gets Maeve her first brassiere -- a less-than-impressive 32A -- she learns that Brian (Shane McDaid), an older boy she fancies, has just been dumped by his girlfriend. To Maeve's surprise, Brian is also interested in her, and she finds herself experiencing her first kiss and first romance. However, she also discovers not all her friends are happy for her, and she becomes acquainted the bitter taste of jealousy and betrayal. 32A was the directorial debut from filmmaker Marian Quinn, and won the prize for "Best First Film" at the 2007 Galway Film Fleadh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ailish McCarthy, Sophie Jo Wasson, (more)
Irish director Pat O'Connor helmed this adaptation of Brian Friel's 1990 play which won three Tony awards in addition to UK Olivier and Evening Standard awards. Friel's portrait of five Irish sisters takes place in 1936 on a Donegal farm. The unmarried Mundy sisters are barely surviving. Middle-aged schoolteacher Kate (Meryl Streep) is the eldest, overseeing pretty Christina (Catherine McCormack), lively Maggie (Kathy Burke, re-creating her Tony award-winning role), reliable Agnes (Brid Brennan), and Rose (Sophie Thompson), who has a secret affair with a married man. Christina is the mother of eight-year-old Michael (Darrell Johnston), beneficiary of much attention from his four aunts. The story of a turning-point summer is told in retrospect by the adult Michael and begins when the sisters welcome their older brother Jack (Michael Gambon) as he returns home from missionary work in Africa. Michael's father Gerry Evans (Rhys Ifans) makes an unexpected arrival, winning back both Michael and mom before joining the International Brigade to fight Franco in Spain. Kate loses her teaching position, and the sister's income from their handwoven clothing is threatened by the announced opening of a woolens factory. Shown at 1998 fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, (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)
- 1969
Set in London and the Riviera, Laughter in the Dark stars Nicol Williamson as Edward, a wealthy, knighted art dealer who falls hard for tartish usherette Margot (Anna Karina). She is kept by a glorified pimp (Jean-Claude Drouot), who conspires with the girl to take Edward for everything he's got. The art dealer is blinded in an auto accident, after which he switches emotional gears and plans to kill the girl and her keeper. Somehow this all worked better back when Hollywood people like Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea were involved. Based on a 1938 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, the film version of Laughter in the Dark "updates" the piece with flash shots of "mod" London, which now seems more anachronistic than anything in the 1930s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicol Williamson, Anna Karina, (more)
