Intermission
3½ out of 5 stars
R E V I E W   B Y   R I C H   C L I N E
intermission There are about 10 main characters in this thoroughly engaging multi-strand ensemble comedy that looks at the resilience required to get through everyday life. John (Murphy) has a dead-end job in a superstore and is desperately missing his girlfriend Deirdre (Macdonald), who has run off with a married bank manager (McElhatton), whose shattered wife (O'Kane) expresses her anger in a rather unusual way. Meanwhile, Deirdre's sister (Henderson) is still struggling to overcome a particularly bad relationship, while the local lowlife thug (Farrell) squares off against a corrupt cop (Meaney) to rule the streets. All of these characters, and several others, come together in a complex--and comic--web of sex, love and violence that we know is not heading where anyone thinks it will.

O'Rowe's script is a clever cross-section of Irish society--the characters are sharply defined, and they all have distinct levels of desperation as they try to pick their way through the minefield of modern society. The title refers to the fact that every character seems stalled in life, as if they're waiting for the next act to begin, whatever it might be. This is a brilliant idea, and it's well-explored on several levels by the cast as well as the writer and director. Murphy delivers on the promise of 28 Days Later with a winning central performance here; he's the emotional lynchpin that holds the story strands together. Macdonald and Henderson are very funny as young women who have important, life-altering decisions to make. Meaney does his Irish-thug routine perfectly. And Farrell is wonderfully jumpy, charming and mad as a hatter (basically he's expanding on his Veronica Guerin cameo); his opening scene is like a punch in the face! The film is most successful when it focuses on the romantic plotlines, and less so when the crime caper takes over at the end. The singles dance sequence is both hysterical and telling; the face-off between Meaney and Farrell is at least unpredictable, and handled with a teasing cinematic wit. This is an extremely promising film debut from theatre director Crowley, and one of the most assured Irish films in memory.

cert 18 themes, language, violence, sex 27.Aug.03

dir John Crowley
scr Mark O'Rowe
with Cillian Murphy, Kelly Macdonald, Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson, Colm Meaney, Michael McElhatton, Deirdre O'Kane, Ger Ryan, Brian F O'Byrne, Dermot Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Darragh Kelly
release Ireland 29.Aug.03; UK 28.Nov.03; US 19.Mar.04
03/Ireland 1h45

Crazy mad fool: Farrell takes aim.

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R E A D E R   R E V I E W S
send your review to Shadows... intermission Jack, London: 4½ out of 5 stars "I thought the film was very fresh and exciting. The ensemble cast was uniformly brilliant, with Shirley Henderson proving to be the most engaging and providing the heart to the film. A definite must-see." (6.Nov.03)
© 2003 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

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