In Bruges, Intermission, and Other Irish Films

Five Essentials Include Adam and Paul, Disco Pigs and Breakfast on Pluto with Cillian Murphy

May 3, 2009 Andrea Beca

A look at the five best Irish films to be released since 2000, complete with cast listings and synopses.

The Irish film industry is a very busy one, especially considering the size of the country, and many of Ireland’s film stars have made names for themselves in Hollywood, including Liam Neeson, Colm Meaney, and more recently, Collin Farrell (Alexander, The New World), Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (The Tudors), and Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, Red Eye). What follows is a look at five essential Irish films, some of them more familiar than others, but all of them well worth watching.

5. Adam and Paul (2004) (Starring Mark O’Halloran and Tom Murphy; Written by Mark O’Halloran, and Directed by Leonard Abrahamson)

An independent film set in Dublin, Adam and Paul follows the lives of two Dublin junkies looking to score. Today, however, is the day they realize that they have burned all of their bridges, and no longer have anyone to depend on. Adam and Paul is so bleak, it’s hilarious – the film is highly stylized with a brilliant soundtrack, and its two main characters form the perfect odd couple: one tall and skinny, the other short and chubbier, both with a Beckett-esque physicality. (Full review coming soon.)

4. Disco Pigs (2001) (Starring Cillian Murphy and Elaine Cassidy; Written by Enda Walsh, and Directed by Kirsten Sheridan)

Based on the play of the same name, and adapted into a film by the original playwright, Disco Pigs is filmed in Cork, Ireland, but set in the bizarre world of Pig and Runt, who have been inseparable friends since they were born on the same day in the same hospital and put in cribs next to one another. They have their own language and their own rules, which often break the rules of the world around them. They are two peas in a pod until they turn 17 – Pig starts to see Runt as more than a friend, which Runt cannot understand. Pig’s feelings spiral into a dangerous obsession, and everything starts to change. (Full review here.)

3. Breakfast on Pluto (2005) (Starring Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Ruth Negga, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, and Laurence Kinlan; Written by Neil Jordan (novel by Pat McCabe), and Directed by Neil Jordan)

Also an adaptation – this one from the novel by Irish writer Patrick McCabe – Breakfast on Pluto created quite a buzz when it was released in 2005, especially for Cillian Murphy’s amazing transformation from man to woman to become Patrick “Kitten” Braden, the film’s lead role. Patrick goes through life in the 1970s quite naïve of the dangerous world around him. He leaves his small Irish town for London in search of his mother, and finds himself involved in many an adventure, from falling in love with a rock star to being imprisoned. Nominated for several best film and best actor awards, Breakfast on Pluto is sweet, heartbreaking, and funny all at once. (Full review here.)

2. Intermission (2003) (Starring Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy, Colm Meaney, Kelly MacDonald, and Shirley Henderson; Written by Mark O’Rowe, and Directed by John Crowley)

Often referred to as the Irish Trainspotting, minus the heroin, Intermission brilliantly brings together 54 characters and 11 storylines. Everyone’s lives are unknowingly intertwined, from a couple who breaks up to an arrogant cop chasing a criminal (all the while being filmed for a documentary), to a young girl having an affair with an older man, to his deserted wife with a penchant for pain and pleasure, and then some. Mark O’Rowe, known more as a playwright than a film writer, does an incredible job with this chaotic and hilariously twisted film. (Full review here.)

1. In Bruges (2008) (Starring Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, and Ralph Fiennes; Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh)

Yet another multifaceted writer, Martin McDonagh, known internationally for his plays (including The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lieutenant and Inishmore, The Lonesome West, and Pillowman) received much attention with the release of In Bruges, a black comedy that looks at the lives of two Irish hit men who get sent to small-town Belgium after a botched job. In Bruges examines ideas of good and bad, as McDonagh gives audiences characters with dark pasts, but obviously warm hearts. An overall darkly humorous and politically incorrect film, and an absolute must-see. (Full review here.)

The copyright of the article In Bruges, Intermission, and Other Irish Films in Foreign Films is owned by Andrea Beca. Permission to republish In Bruges, Intermission, and Other Irish Films in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Must-See Irish Movies: Adam and Paul	Cillian Murphy and Elaine Cassidy in Disco Pigs	Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto
Five Essential Irish Films: Intermission	Top Five Irish Films: In Bruges by Martin McDonagh