Perrier's Bounty: FILM REVIEW

What is it about the Irish dark comedy that I love so much? That's hard to contain succinctly.


Maybe it's as simple as the earthy Irish accent which can make expletive-laced tirades sound absolutely prosaic. I find myself getting in trouble with my wife after seeing a film like this one, which seems to me to call for a rating of "fecking brilliant."


It's certainly more than that. It helps to know the source of the darkness to understand the depth of the comedy in a film like Perrier's Bounty. Anyone who has a basic knowledge of the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland could begin to grasp that sharp-edged humor is a legacy which was borne of real suffering and conflict.


This was the second time I saw this film. I loved it when we screened it for the festival, and I have been talking about it since I saw it in the program. 


For the sake of full-disclosure, let me say that I am biased toward Dublin as if it were my younger brother. I love it dearly. So the fact that the film is set there, and in the Wicklow Mountains to the north, bade well for it before I saw it at all. 


The acting was superb. The sensitive mobster, the dying father, the dog-handlers, the manic neighbor girl, and the hit-men whose love could not be named are my faves... but that's almost all of them, isn't it? Cillian Murphy did well to erase the high creep-factor which I associate with him since his roles in Batman Begins and Red Eye.  But Broadbent and Gleeson steal the show in this one for me. Let me suggest that it's very likely that you'll laugh the next time you see Nescafe.


There's a lot going on in this movie filled with characters. Gabriel Byrne voices the narrator who one finds to be the grim reaper at the close of the film. I missed that the first time, and so did a couple of others who saw the film with me. Regardless, his narration was perfect for the film, and I love the idea that this is a story told by the grim reaper, set in Dublin, about gangsters and witless accomplices.

It's violent, gritty, laced with profanity, and addresses a range of subjects which would make many uncomfortable. There's plenty for one to choose to be offended or affected by in this film, but it's wrapped up in that easy-to-swallow Irish package which is what takes this from Reservoir Dogs toward Hot Fuzz. It falls somewhere in between those two for me.


It was worth getting punched in the arm by the wife after this one ended when I described it with the rating which I thought was appropriate...


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1003034/