An Irish Goodbye

Turlough McCaffrey lives in London while his brother Lorcan with Down syndrome lives with their mother on the family farm in Ireland. Turlough returns home for his mother's funeral. Lorcan wants to stay and work the farm. Turlough sees that as impossible and insists that he goes live with their aunt. Local priest Father O'Shea has a list from their mother.

This won the Oscar and BAFTA. It is a good story although it is short. In that, the story feels like it could be more. It isn't anything too big or completely new. I don't think that actors with Down syndrome is terribly new. I can see this being expanded into a full length movie.

A thoroughly-enjoyable short film centering around the difficulties and complexities of family life. Two adult brothers reunite for their mother's funeral against the backdrop of rural Northern Ireland. Seamus O'Hara and James Martin portray the tragi-comic duo with raw athenticity and a dash of Irish humour.

The younger of the two siblings, Lorcan, strives relentlessly to re-bond with his estranged brother Turlough and avert the possibility of having to live with their only remaining relative, an aunt. What unfolds is a series of subtle comic episodes between the pair as they embark on the journey to fulfil their deceased mother's bucket list. Paddy Jenkins as Father O'Shea further adds to the humour one can only expect from the Irish. A crackin' short from start to finish.

All the attention this year has been on the banshees of inisherin, a plodding and wooden film, yet this short film was streets ahead. It shows the interaction between a dedicated but handicapped lad and his disinterested brother. The relationship is fantastic and james martin himself should have gotten an Oscar for his part. Brilliantly played. I deliberately gave it one star less than a full 10, as the film had the appearances that it was actually shortened, possibly to ensure it was classified as a short film. But it would have been great to have it stretched to at least an hour. Far more believable than the dire banshees.

Seamus O'Hara returns to the family farm and his pugnacious brother James Martin. Their mother has died, and what are they to do with the acres.... and James. Before they do anything else, they agree to do the one hundred tasks on their mother's bucket list.

Difficult families are one of the basic tropes of good story-telling, from Oedipus Rex on, and this falls into that category, with some ill-tempered sullenness and awkward silences in between the increasingly odd and downright fanciful quests of the late old woman, poor woman.

And now I had better end this review before I begin to sound like Barry Fitzgerald in THE QUIET MAN.

An okay film, with an average script.

Unoriginal, and not overly well shot (dinner table scene did not flow).

Predictable story. We have seen many bucket list films before.

Dialogue was sketchy and weird timing... felt unintentionally awkward and it didn't flow.

The acting was fine, but certainly it did have a stand out performance by James Martin as brother Lorcan, who was very, very good.

We watched all the nominated shorts (short list), and couldn't work out why this was on the list, it felt the weakest by far. That's not to say it's a bad film. But there was nothing original about it, and it felt overly sentimental.

For this to rise to the top is a surprise, and for it to win an Oscar is bizarre. Guess it goes to show that anything is possible! So regardless of my thoughts, congratulation to the team.