Film review: 'Dancing at Lughnasa' It's a Pint-Sized Irish Stew / 'Lughnasa' makes a clunky translation from heralded play to good-looking but minor film
NEW YORK -- An adaptation of the hugely acclaimed Brian Friel play, "Dancing at Lughnasa" demonstrates the risks of transferring poetic theatrical material to the big screen.
Although intelligently adapted, beautifully acted and gorgeously photographed, the movie never quite soars the way the theatrical production did, and it is unlikely to reap the same kind of critical success. The presence of Meryl Streep -- who gets to deliver an Irish accent -- should help, as will the film's pedigree, but boxoffice prospects don't look particularly green.
Adapted by famed Irish playwright Frank McGuinness ("Someone Who'll Watch Over Me"), "Lughnasa" is a memory piece set in rural Ireland in 1936 about the five unmarried, Catholic Mundy sisters, who live in a small house in the hills outside the Donegal village of Ballybeg. Together, they take care of Michael Darrell Johnston), the 8-year-old love child of Christina (Catherine McCormack). The other sisters are Kate (Streep), a teacher at the local Catholic school who is about to lose her job because of falling attendance; Agnes (Brid Brennan, the only holdover from the original theatrical cast), who has assumed the role of caretaker; Rose (Sophie Thompson), gentle, sweet and mentally impaired; and Maggie (Kathy Burke), irrepressibly cheerful and profane.
The plot, such as it is, mainly revolves around a pair of arrivals -- the sisters' long-absent and rather addled older brother Jack (Michael Gambon), fresh from a decades-long stint as a missionary in Africa, and Gerry (Rhys Ifans), Michael's father, who is on his way to fight for anti-Franco forces in Spain. The title refers to an annual pagan ritual that is the town's social highlight of the year.
In its translation to the screen, "Dancing at Lughnasa" has somehow lost something, and it's hard to say exactly what. Certainly, the play's highly poetic language doesn't fully translate. And the much-heralded episode in which the sisters spontaneously burst into a joyous dance -- the highlight of the stage version -- falls flat on screen. Here, the story comes across as simply a series of minor but picturesque episodes, with the chief attributes being the excellent performances and gorgeous photography of the Irish countryside.
Streep has been so good for so long that it's easy to take her for granted, but she delivers another excellent performance as a curmudgeonly character who in lesser hands would be lessened to caricature. McCormack is luminous as the sensual Christina, and the three other female leads deliver superbly nuanced work. Ifans is highly appealing as a young man so high-spirited that he whoops and hollers at the prospect of going to war. Although one misses Gambon's usual mesmerizing intensity, he gives a well-modulated, quiet performance that is perfectly apt.
Director Pat O'Connor obviously knows his way around Ireland, but his command of the material is less sure, resulting in awkward tonal shifts and passages. The excellent soundtrack is provided by composer Bill Whelan, best known for the worldwide "Riverdance" sensation.
DANCING AT LUGHNASA
Sony Pictures Classics
Credits: Director: Pat O'Connor; Producer: Noel Pearson; Screenplay: Frank McGuinness; Director of photography: Kenneth MacMillan; Editor: Humphrey Dixon; Music: Bill Whelan. Cast: Kate Mundy: Meryl Streep; Father Jack Mundy: Michael Gambon; Christina Mundy: Catherine McCormack; Maggie Mundy: Kathy Burke; Rose Mundy: Sophie Thompson; Agnes Mundy: Brid Brennan; Gerry Evans: Rhys Ifans; Michael Mundy: Darrell Johnston. MPAA rating: PG. Color/stereo. Running time -- 94 minutes.
Although intelligently adapted, beautifully acted and gorgeously photographed, the movie never quite soars the way the theatrical production did, and it is unlikely to reap the same kind of critical success. The presence of Meryl Streep -- who gets to deliver an Irish accent -- should help, as will the film's pedigree, but boxoffice prospects don't look particularly green.
Adapted by famed Irish playwright Frank McGuinness ("Someone Who'll Watch Over Me"), "Lughnasa" is a memory piece set in rural Ireland in 1936 about the five unmarried, Catholic Mundy sisters, who live in a small house in the hills outside the Donegal village of Ballybeg. Together, they take care of Michael Darrell Johnston), the 8-year-old love child of Christina (Catherine McCormack). The other sisters are Kate (Streep), a teacher at the local Catholic school who is about to lose her job because of falling attendance; Agnes (Brid Brennan, the only holdover from the original theatrical cast), who has assumed the role of caretaker; Rose (Sophie Thompson), gentle, sweet and mentally impaired; and Maggie (Kathy Burke), irrepressibly cheerful and profane.
The plot, such as it is, mainly revolves around a pair of arrivals -- the sisters' long-absent and rather addled older brother Jack (Michael Gambon), fresh from a decades-long stint as a missionary in Africa, and Gerry (Rhys Ifans), Michael's father, who is on his way to fight for anti-Franco forces in Spain. The title refers to an annual pagan ritual that is the town's social highlight of the year.
In its translation to the screen, "Dancing at Lughnasa" has somehow lost something, and it's hard to say exactly what. Certainly, the play's highly poetic language doesn't fully translate. And the much-heralded episode in which the sisters spontaneously burst into a joyous dance -- the highlight of the stage version -- falls flat on screen. Here, the story comes across as simply a series of minor but picturesque episodes, with the chief attributes being the excellent performances and gorgeous photography of the Irish countryside.
Streep has been so good for so long that it's easy to take her for granted, but she delivers another excellent performance as a curmudgeonly character who in lesser hands would be lessened to caricature. McCormack is luminous as the sensual Christina, and the three other female leads deliver superbly nuanced work. Ifans is highly appealing as a young man so high-spirited that he whoops and hollers at the prospect of going to war. Although one misses Gambon's usual mesmerizing intensity, he gives a well-modulated, quiet performance that is perfectly apt.
Director Pat O'Connor obviously knows his way around Ireland, but his command of the material is less sure, resulting in awkward tonal shifts and passages. The excellent soundtrack is provided by composer Bill Whelan, best known for the worldwide "Riverdance" sensation.
DANCING AT LUGHNASA
Sony Pictures Classics
Credits: Director: Pat O'Connor; Producer: Noel Pearson; Screenplay: Frank McGuinness; Director of photography: Kenneth MacMillan; Editor: Humphrey Dixon; Music: Bill Whelan. Cast: Kate Mundy: Meryl Streep; Father Jack Mundy: Michael Gambon; Christina Mundy: Catherine McCormack; Maggie Mundy: Kathy Burke; Rose Mundy: Sophie Thompson; Agnes Mundy: Brid Brennan; Gerry Evans: Rhys Ifans; Michael Mundy: Darrell Johnston. MPAA rating: PG. Color/stereo. Running time -- 94 minutes.
- 11/17/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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