God's Creatures

The movie "God's Creatures" is an intense, heavy-duty drama about a mother's protective relationship with her son. To what extent can a mother's love for her offspring be acceptable and understood?

Emily Watson's performance as the mother Aileen O'Hara is simply brilliant, once again she lets us delve into the insecurity, regret, love, and ambiguity of a mother torn apart between being a mother and a woman. Emily Watson gives herself fully, just like she did in "Breaking the Waves".

Despite having this theme of guilt and shame, the movie has a somewhat excessive conclusion, especially because its plot is related to a form of unconditional love between mother and son.

This is one of those stories that is simple, but executed brilliantly. A crisis of identity and of faith as the patriarchy dominates an allegation of sexual assault in a small fishing village. Examining the individual responses of the villagers, creating in-group out-groups that soon meet a flashpoint, yet trundle toward people wanting to normalize and go back to normal. And willfully forget the damage done and ongoing.

I think it's sad/hilarious that so many reviews call it shallow simply because they're triggered the dude is being maligned. It's a story. And it's not his story, nor does it need to be because it's not operating at the concrete level, for the most part.

Emily Watson kills it in this, as does the up-and-comer from the Normal People adaptation. Smart script, not too long, great shots, fantastic soundtrack. Starting my 2023 watch season out right. Excellent stuff.

God's Creatures has an atmospheric setting and a great cast. But one huge flaw in the script fatally holes this ship below the waterline.

Brian returns from an extended sojourn to Australia and his mother Aileen is overjoyed. In fact, she is so happy that she fails to consider why her prodigal son was considered prodigal in the first place. In the scene where Brian appears, it is pointed out that he made no contact while in Australia, and no one even knew what city or town he was in.

Now, that is fine for that scene, but the question of what Brian did during his time in Australia is never re-visited. He meets old schoolmates, a bartender who is enamoured with him, but absolutely no one broaches the topic of Australia. This bizarre omission undermines all the work done to create an authentic sense of place and people. And it would be an easy fix, by, for example, having Brian tell contradictory versions to two people.

Whether it was not discussed in script development, or written but not shot, or shot but left out of the final cut, I do not know. But that egregious misfire in the creative process ruins what could have been an immersive, enjoyable cinema outing.

"Brian" (Paul Mescal) has recently returned to his family home on the west coast of Ireland to a warm welcome from his mother "Aileen" (Emily Watson) and a largely indifferent one from his father "Con" (Declan O'Hara). For reasons we are not told, he has returned from Australia and is soon determined to pick up his ailing grandfather's oyster farming business. Despite knowing very little about this, he knuckles down and with the help of some "borrowed" half-grown's from the seafood factory where his mother works, seems intent on making a go of things. All is set fair until one evening, "Aileen" has to pay a visit to the police station where she learns of an accusation, a very serious accusation, being levelled against the apple of her eye. She reacts defensively, and firmly, as any mother probably would - but as the remainder of the story develops, we see her begin to reconsider her position. Might he actually have done what he was accused of? The story itself is all rather weak here, sorry. Some beautiful location photography and loads of lingering shots of folks having cigarettes doesn't really ignite this. The narrative is put together in a rather bitty, unconvincing, fashion and though Watson is on great form as the increasingly conflicted lady, Mescal offers very little beyond his hail-fellow-well-met character and the underlying gist of the story is seriously undercooked. It does offer us a glimpse of the difficulties faced by those making a living in this harsh and unforgiving environment and perhaps I will think twice before I eat an Irish oyster again, but I think too much emphasis has been placed on who is in this film rather than developing a story that has depth and detail and holds the attention of the audience. It is worth a watch, and it's co-produced by BBC Film so the telly at Christmas is sure to be a place to find it.

In dark, slow-burn Irish drama "God's Creatures" Paul Mescal returns from years in Australia to his fishing village home & family inc overjoyed ma Emily Watson (always solid), stoic da Declan Conlon & feisty sis Toni O'Rourke. But when Mescal's one-time gf Aisling Franciosi (good) accuses him of rape, and Watson lies to provide an alibi to get him off, a shadow falls over them all. Written (by Shane Crowley) & directed (by Saela Davis & Anna Rose Holmer) in deliberately & appropriately moody style it's evocative work, portraying a community & values seemingly of a different time & place to our own. While no adrenaline pumper, it's fine drama for those in the mood.