The first original screenplay by Irish novelist Roddy Doyle is automatically a cinematic and literary event. When Brendan Met Trudy offers many quirky delights, but it is an uneven and ultimately disappointing film. Doyle's oddball yarn about a movie-obsessed Dublin schoolteacher (Peter McDonald) who falls in love with a thief (Flora Montgomery) is dragged down on screen by its … [Read more...] about Film Forum: When Brendan Met Trudy
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Book Reviews
NON-FICTION A larger-than-life Irish American politician finally gets the treatment he deserves – praise and criticism, that is – in Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century, by Boston Globe writer John A. Farrell. The key aspect of this book's title is the second part. Not only is O'Neill's life, growing up working-class in heavily Irish Boston, fascinating, but the … [Read more...] about Book Reviews
Sláinte: Summer Blessings
One of summer's finest gifts is its long hours of sunshine. This is especially true the farther one travels from the equator where a midwinter's night is so long that only a few hours of pale gray twilight feebly light the day. Halfway around the seasonal wheel, the sun blazes forth in the same locale for nearly a whole 24-hour period. This phenomenon has a very scientific … [Read more...] about Sláinte: Summer Blessings
Return to Derry
I had almost a worm's-eye view of Bloody Sunday. I was working as a junior TV journalist covering a protest march through Derry on January 30, 1972, and like every other observer I was dumbfounded when the British Parachute Regiment opened fire on the protestors. I had just maneuvered my way over a low barricade of rubble when the shots rang out, and I flung myself on the … [Read more...] about Return to Derry
Irish Roots: Cusack The Warrior Clan
The Cusack name carries with it a fighting air. One of the most colorful examples is of one George Cusack whose parents wanted him to be a monk. He did not, so he ran away to fulfill every child's dream of becoming a pirate and was so ruthless, he was often known to throw his crew overboard during arguments. George may have gained his notoriety through his defiance, but … [Read more...] about Irish Roots: Cusack The Warrior Clan