The Dossing Times

There is a beautifully rich idea at the heart of ‘Ondine’, one which sets a story fused with myth and fairytale in a contemporary, but slightly askew world. The world is one of dysfunctional family cursed by drink, asylum seekers and illness, but also one of sleepy villages, where a fisherman, his life at sea in every sense, pulls a beautiful woman from the sea in his trawling net. The characters of the village, whether intelligent child, negligent mother or doubtful father could populate a story of domestic drama, but this is a story where their fears and lives are full of reality but they also consider the elusive woman could be a mythical sea creature.

The film resembles the Yeats poem ‘Song of Wandering Aengus’ come to life – it is an ageless, romantic and at times melancholic tale.

The film is inherently Irish, and this adds to the enjoyment of the film, whether it is the humour, the name place recognition, or the Irish talent on show, engaging with and delivering intelligent material. The look of the film is distinct, and this could not have been achieved without the beautiful West Cork surrounds – they are pivotal and a character of their own in evoking the films mood. Countless shades of rich green, rusted ship wrecks, night skies lit by a distant lighthouse and even Irish weather lends itself to the gorgeous look of the film and adds to the fairytale suggestions of the film.

The film is undoubtedly an ensemble. Once you recover from his thick, occasionally fleeting, West Cork accent, Colin Farrell’s performance is absolutely winning. The man has never played to type, though there is an ever present charm to his characters, and in the vein of his best work in ‘In Bruges’ his character captures a conflicted Irish soul impeccably. The man’s performance is fearless. His real life partner, Alicja Bachleda plays the stunning femme fatale of the tale, Ondine and effortlessly convinces in a role that could have proved frustrating for an audience to engage with.  Her character has a lot to achieve, as she directs the story and potentially the fate of those around her. It helps to no end that the actresses looks are matched with presence on screen. The support also works well and the cast gel well together, with one dynamic in particular, that of  daughter and father, in their quieter moments, representing one of the films highlights. Alison Barry does a fine job as the fisherman’s daughter, however she does have a heavy workload in portraying the most fervent believer in Odines sea water origins, and occasionally her remarks and unwavering belief seems a bit overdone for exposition purposes.

It is in delivery of its core idea that the film struggles at times. The meshing of reality and the mystical does not work seamlessly throughout. In the 2007 ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ an entire town meets the blow-up doll girlfriend of their neighbour and treats her as a person, and the genuine heartfelt reaction of the town makes this story work and work well. In ‘Ondine’ we are never entirely certain as to how we should treat the new girl in town; we may expect a harsh reality to surface any minute, we may think a supernatural flourish will reveal itself. This conflict may motivate the story, but the elusive language and actions of the characters often dilutes the impact of the film, creating more confusion that intrigue.

The overall effect is an enjoyable film, worth your time, not alone to appreciate novel Irish film making but to enjoy your atypical story, good performances and a film where nothing is a given.

The whole Willie O’Dea thing is quiet amazing really. While this story has come to light in the last few days. It is not actually that new. The judgement and case was solved back in December. Here is a Sinn Fein press release about the issue.

Defamation proceedings which were brought by Councillor Quinlivan against Willie O’Dea TD over his claims were settled in the High Court today.

The terms of the settlement saw an apology read out in the High Court whereby Willie O’Dea withdrew fully the defamatory statements made by him against Mr. Quinlivan.

Willie O’Dea apologised unreservedly to Mr. Quinlivan for the harm done to his reputation and accepted that Mr. Quinlivan is a person of exemplary character.

The Minister withdrew the misleading allegations made by him in his Affidavit to the High Court.

The settlement sees Willie O’Dea paying damages to Maurice Quinlivan and discharges Mr. Quinlivan’s legal costs.

As you note there is no mention in this press release of the Affidavit being changed. This being the main thing that is vexing people.  Sinn Fein seeming missing a major political scalp. This was a story in the media during the time of the case. But nothing much was made of it. Not much uproar happened around. It was around Christmas and the Brian Lenihan story and this might have led to it being ignored. Indeed the news very much covered the fact that he made false statements in the trial.So what changed during the last 2 months that made this story a story?

Senator Eugene Regan has been banging on about this. It was first raised on February second

I wish to raise an issue of perjury. The Statutory Declarations Act 1938 makes it an offence to lie on oath. In addition, the Prevention of Electoral Abuses Act 1923 makes it an offence to malign or defame a candidate in an election. Perjury goes to the heart of the criminal justice system, as indicated by a judge in Limerick last year when a man was sentenced to one year in prison after he had withdrawn his evidence in a criminal trial. The judge said perjury and giving false evidence went to the core of the criminal justice system and the rule of law. In another case of perjury last year the judge said it was an attack on the system of justice

This statement appearing in the Seanad Report in the Irish Times on the 3rd of Feb. Then all was quiet for a few days until Justine McCarthy wrote an opinion piece in the Sunday Times. This opinion piece possibly garnering a letter looking for damages by Willie O’Dea.

From there the story picked up momentum with Fine Gael calling for a motion of no confidence in the minister. While it was obviously going to fail, it brought the  story to the top of the news cycle. Putting pressure on the Greens and making the government seem in tatters.

It was a remarkably well played game by Fine Gael. Kick started by Eugene Regan. I am not sure if he was acting off his own bat or was it planned from up high. One of the interesting things is how it picked up momentum around the time of the leaving of George Lee. Was it FG’s way of distracting from their troubles or was it just a coincidence ?

What ever the reason. Sinn Fein will be kicking themselves for dropping the ball on this one. Too much time worrying about the troubles up North I guess. Which does highlight Sinn Fein’s problem in the South of course.

Last Christmas my Dad, as usual, got me some reading. Among them was ‘Ghost Writer’. As with when I meet new people, I judged it immediately, relegating it to ‘lazy thriller’. Now while my opinions of people change (if somewhat rarely), my opinion of this book did not change, but in fact degenerated and then when a final twist came, I refused to finish out the final chapter or 2, I was so insulted at such a ‘jump the shark’ outlandish move that made no sense whatsoever. Now I find that Roman Polanski has directed an adaptation of the novel for the big screen, with Pierce Brosnan playing a retired British PM, and no effort made to remove his characters resemblance to Tony Blair as the book shamelessly does, and Ewan McGregor as the titular ghost writer. Watch the trailer here and pay no further attention to this movie.

There is a new a Social Networking site. Based in Limerick. Not So Daft is the name.

So here I am a bogger from Tipp living in the heart of the English establishment Oxford. My office even has a view of a cricket pitch. Yes jolly good sport old bean and all that pa-larva.

I remember back at school when people were talking about where they wanted to go to Uni or work. People talked about going to these far flung places like Cork. Me, my plan was not adventurous I wanted to go up the road to UL and stay in the locality. Alas faith intervened one June morning and since I left School, I have lived in Galway, Belfast, Barcelona, Lincolnshire, Canterbury, Paris and now Oxford. While many of the people who dreamed of spreading their wings have not gone far. It is funny how what you plan not to happen happens and what you plan to happen doesn’t.

Now I don’t know what this says about me but one of the first impressions that I have made of Oxford is the soar lack of chippers or chippy’s as they call them over here ( I am not over weight before anyone asks). I mean I can’t find any in the city centre. While restaurants are indeed difficult to locate in the city centre. They do exist. But Chippers, they are indeed a rare occurrence google lists 4. 1 of which does not exist I found out the other night.

Sure you get Burger King and McDonalds but they just don’t serve the same chip experience a factory floor of efficiency. Bland corporate mediocrity. I have nothing against corporations or indeed corporate chains. They are there for a reason. People are willing to part with their cash for their wares and they are always clean.  But they just don’t match a chipper. The sights sounds and smells. The sight of the golden bars of battered sausages, the sizel of the chips in the pan, and the smell oh the glorious smell of a chipper. McDonald’s never smells strongly.  McDonald’s seem not to heard of the product known as vinegar. Which as everyone knows the purpose  of a chip is to be a holder of vinegar, is odd.

So why the lack of chips in Oxford. Are the students just to posh to partake in a greasy bag of chips? You can’t spit with out hitting a coffee shop, serving all sorts of hip and trendy products alien to all but the continentals 15 years ago. Is this some class warfare thing that I was unaware of. Do floopy haired public school boys not like a battered sausage. Is it unsightly common in a way and big mac is not? While I have seen many a floopy head I have seen many normal short back and sides why are they not pushing for chips?

Maybe there is someone out there looking for a business idea in the Oxford area. If so, consider opening a chipper there must be a market for it and I’ll be outside waiting for some vinegar.

George Lee resigning has sparked a bit of a debate in Ireland about the body politic. Much of it has been about whether he was driven by his ego over not getting enough of an input. This argument is a odd because this is what we want in Irish politics indeed expect from a politician. Too many politicians in Ireland tow the party line without a thought about the bigger issues. Remember what running for election should mean. It is saying “I am better able to help this country then anyone else, I have the ability and the ideas that no one else has” rather then I the usual Irish stance of  I need to bolster the “party”. They spend their times attending funerals, fighting on local issues. Don’t get me wrong caring about the welfare of your locality is noble, but the national legislator is not the place for it. Local councils should  have greater powers to cater for these issues.

But we should want politicians to contribute. We want them to care more about the issues then the welfare of the party. Lee has shown this. His party is going to dented by this and yet he put his principles above the welfare of the party. This is something quiet unusual in Irish politics.

George Lee is a loss to Irish politics. A guy who came into the Dail not because he was the next in line but because he wanted to make a difference. When he discovered that he could not, that the party was hindering his ability to do this. He resigned.

This to is noble for his constituents they voted for him on the belief that he could achieve certain things. On discovering that he could not he has dropped out. Imagine what Ireland would be like if all politicians were that candid about their failings to the electorate.

The Eiffel Tower, The Colosseum, Buckingham Palace, The Empire State building architecture matters. Buildings are so much more then just vessels for housing their contents, they are symbols that represent the cities and the countries that they are part of. Without architecture city breaks, the delight of the middle class, would be far less common. People visit the “sites” on holiday food and music usually are happened upon not sought out.

The recent fuss being made of the residence of the Irish ambassador to Canada, has brought me back to this point. While this falls now into the recent trend of getting our knickers  in a twist every time we see a bill it is something that needs to be nipped in the bud. Firstly a far cheaper proposal for the Irish Ambassador would be to rent a 1 bed flat in some Canadian tower block.

Obviously this would be stupid. The Ambassadors residence is not just his house. It is Ireland’s show piece in Canada. It our signature building that we use to make a statement about who we are. Surely we want to project an impressive image on to a trading partner and member of the G8. The ambassadors residents is not just the Ambassadors house. It is where the Ambassadors wines and dines the influential of Canada in a bid to embolden Ireland’s image among them. In a time of recession this is a time we need to be selling Ireland more not less. We should not be pinching the pennies on a false illusion that we are saving money in the short term.

Look at the American Ambassadors residence in Dublin would they be better served by a cheaper to run flat in north Dublin for €165,000. Buildings matter, impressions matter this building needs to be impressive. The fact of the matter is the impact of the ferrero roches would be fatally undermined if the party is being hosted in a dive

Initial thoughts on the list of Oscar nominations released this lunch time is that they represent an eclectic, if rather subdued list.

Most immediately, the mastery of ‘Up’ has been acknowledged, by being included in two fields, that of Best Animated Film and simply Best Film. This, along with the nomination for ‘District 9’, one of the best movies of 2009, gives great credence to the decision to expand the list of Best Film contenders to 10. ‘The Blind Side’ is the only one of the 10 films yet for a release on this side of the Atlantic. The list itself, apart from the monolith that is Avatar, is full of smaller films about people and smaller stories but all effective in their own way.  

Jeremy Renner’s Best Actor nomination for Hurt Locker has me second guessing my judgement of ‘The Hurt Locker’ – what did everyone see in this movie, while I felt so disengaged? I know all the reasons for the respect shown to this film, but whether it was the genre, the over exposure to the topic in the media, the hype surrounding the movie or even that I had just worked through the equally good, if not better, ‘Generation Kill’ on DVD, I’m non plussed as to the impact this movie seems to have made. The other nominees for Best Actor ably fill the standard requirements of effective portrayal of a historical character, effective personal portrayal from a star, a comeback story and the intense dramatic role. For the acting roles in general, I have a lot of watching to do, to pass judgement. Among the Best Supporting Actor nominees I have only see Christoph Waltz in ‘Inglourious’ and he has been spoken of in terms of this award since the film was first released and I can’t argue.

For Best Actress I have seen none of the performances, though there is a lot of love for ‘An Education’ across the nominations so I intend to see that soon and come to grips with Carey Mulligan’s performance. The early word is that Sandra Bullock could win both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year, for ‘The Blind Side’ and ‘What About Steve’, respectively.  The two nominations for Best Supporting Actress garnered for ‘Up in the Air’ is a further sign of the punching weight of this movie, and it is in the performances this movie sings, rather than working as a whole. No look in for Diane Kruger or Melanie Laurent of ‘Inglourious’ who delivered excellent performances.

Irish interests are strong this year again, though ‘The Lovely Bones’, with Irish actress Saoirse Ronan,  is almost completely ignored bar a supporting nomination for Stanley Tucci. The Tomm Moore-directed ‘The Secret of Kells’ is nominated in the Best Animated Feature category along with ‘Coraline’, ‘The Fantastic Mr Fox’, ‘The Princess and the Frog’ and ‘Up’.

Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell’s ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ is among the Best Animated Short Film nominees. The Door  by Wicklow company Octagon Films is nominated in the short film category.

Dubliner Richie Baneham is among the nominees in the Best Visual Effects category for his work on ‘Avatar’.

I’m looking forward to the show this year, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin on presenting duties, and a rounded, wide open number of categories.  The biggest upset on an initial scan of the nominations is that ‘The Road’ has been forgotten. If nothing else Viggo Mortensen’s lead performance is a wonderful piece of work.