Dead Man’s Money, a film by Paul Kennedy, explores familial tension and betrayal as Young Henry fears his wealthy uncle’s courtship with the Widow Tweed. This noir adaptation evokes Shakespearean themes, skillfully blending dark humor and character complexities. The 82-minute film offers a gripping tale of moral ambiguity and human frailty. Continue reading
Filed under Of Literary Interest …
October: What we are reading, hearing, attending, watching
I have a wee reservation about the title. Neither the play nor the pub are a bit of a lark, in the sense of harmless fun. In my experience, pubs from the time depicted in the play were the pits. Continue reading
Irish Film Festival 2025 Reviews: Kathleen is Here, A Want in Her, Bring Them Down, Fran the Man, Housewife of the Year, Froggie, Fidil Ghorm, The Spin, and David Keenan:Focla ar Chanbhás
Kathleen, an eighteen-year-old, navigates life after her mother’s death and returning to her childhood home in a coastal Irish town. Given a second chance, she struggles with her volatile nature and connections while pursuing dreams of a beauty salon. Strong performances highlight her quest for love and recognition amidst psychological challenges. Continue reading
Poetry Corner:Mionscéal Eicfreastach/Ekphrastic Drabble
‘Have you seen the exhibition yet?’ Continue reading
September: What we are reading, hearing, attending, watching…
Like Heaney, I too was catapulted back to the powerful impact of reading Wilde’s De Profundis, also penned in Reading Gaol, on me aged 20. Continue reading
Grunge City, Sex and Piccalilly Projectiles
Eimear McBride’s The City Changes Its Face is an ambitious, no-holds- barred, literary novel that tackles difficult and confronting social and personal issues Continue reading
What we are reading, hearing, attending, watching…
Go see the movie for the breathtaking landscape and the solid acting of Gabriel Byrne and the young stars Anne Skelly, Fionn O’Shea, and Ferdia Walshe Peelo, Continue reading
Samhain Stories in Flickers of Memory
Swinging on the front gate with my brother for mother to arrive home with the fruit we only saw once a year: coconuts and pomegranates. My brothers attacking the coconuts with a hammer and chisel. Me, the youngest, given the first taste of the milky juice. Continue reading
MONTO: a search for the definite article
The wicked history of ‘Monto’ spreads itself accommodatingly from the 1860s up to the 1950s. ‘Monto’ was, at one time, so it is claimed, to be the largest redlight district in Europe. It is estimated that there were at times up to 1,600 prostitutes working there. Continue reading
Poetry in Irish and English: Gearóidin Nic Cárthaigh, Louis Mulcahy, Emily Cullen, Ben Keatinge
He will not study Famine roads on any map in school.
I discovered those myself much later, Trevelyan’s twisted
dictate, the futile labour of those arteries tapering
into the ether, Continue reading