An Irish Angel

Aine (Niamh James) is in her senior year in a Catholic school in Portush, Northern Ireland and desperately wants to go travel the world, but she's just found out she's pregnant. This causes conflict with her widowed mother Margaret (Amanda Doherty).

Aine is someone who can be inconsiderate, selfish, insecure, good-hearted, ambitious beyond her abilities, naïve, fun, and able to redeem herself. In other words, she is a confused teenager on the cusp of adulthood and Niamh James plays the part superbly.

It has sharp directing by Danny Patrick who also wrote the screenplay. There are also engaging sidebar stories including other characters that add greatly to the main mother-daughter conflict: the despair of losing a job later in life; financial burdens; periodic depression; the inner-conflict of being young and Catholic; the futility of social climbing; the belief that "there" is better than "here".

The coming-of-age genre is so common that it's difficult to raise the bar. "An Irish Angel" at least meets the standard and then some though it could have been more. In fairness, the two lead performances do stand out especially that of Amanda Doherty. She shows so much push-pull with her daughter while trying to come to grips that her daughter has made the same mistake she did in getting pregnant young. She also has the brilliant ability to let the emotions build gradually and then attempt (as we do in real life) to resist them until the attempt is futile. No wonder Amanda Doherty is winning so many awards and award nominations. While she gives a rich performance, I believe the film would have been greater if she had been given even more screen time.

I found An Irish Angel to be a sweet, charming coming-of-age film. It is a serious film, but with flashes of humor. Danny Patrick wrote and directed the film which seemed to be partly autobiographical in that he grew up in Ireland about the same time as her character. The film is a meditation on what it means to be from some place and what that idea of home means in shaping who you become.

Aine 'Niamh James' has a love-hate relationship with her town, her family and her place in both. It is also very much a story of young girl struggling with her own and her mother's expectations for herself. The script is really charming with the best scenes being those of Aine and her mother played by 'Amanda Doherty'.

Aine is struggling with her secret pregnancy, family, friendship, religion all at the same time. Like all of us, she is trying to find her place in the world. Niamh James is excellent as Ained as is Amanda Doherty in the role of her haggard struggling mother trying to hold her family together through difficult times. Recommended to those who like drama, particularly coming-of-age films.

As far as coming of age movies go. I most certainly feel like this is a complete and total winner. The acting and performances especially from Todd Bell as Leo and the lead Aine was wonderful.

The Story line whilst familiar was handled incredibly well, should I say fantastic! I fell that I just had to give it the kudos it deserves. Thanks to the people who made this possible, for an independent movie it took a lot of risks which paid off.

It felt so real and so satisfying to see the all of the story threads coming together. Very Emotional at times and occasionally silly. Loved it!

Thanks again to the creators.

'An Irish Angel' is a tale of angst, stress and a strive for acceptance. The themes in 'Angel' are common ones that many young adults can identify with during the confusing, competitive high school years. At the center of the film is Niamh James 'Aine' title character (pronounced Onya), who struggles with her inner demons now that she's pregnant, whilst hiding the fact from her mother, Margaret (Amanda Doherty). This secret dominates the entire film and even when its out, helps us understand how one's environment growing up can have a major impact on their choices in life.

The premise offers director Danny Patrick a lot to work with, and his signature comedic, dramedy tone is a constant throughout 'Angel.' Everything from the way scenes are shot to the quirky music are dripping with proverbial eye rolls, and they all work. Sure, there are a few moments that could cause general audiences gasp, but most of them are done in a way that is not mean-spirited or in poor taste. Aside from Niamh's A+ performance, others in the supporting cast don't disappoint, from Jaime Winstone to Julian Glover's priest.

'An Irish Angel' has the building blocks to become a cult classic for this generation.

I kind of like films like 'An Irish Angel'. Coming of age, teenage dramas where the characters have infinite charm and deal with things we all remember fondly (or not so) from our adolescence. Even though I was never a rebellious teenage girl at a catholic school in Portrush, Northern Ireland, I still found myself relating to this quirky movie.

An Irish Angel captures the essence of what it's like to be a teenager. And while Niamh James 'Aine' and Amanda Doherty 'Margaret' really shine, each cast member adds something to the film, especially the seasoned Jaime Winstone 'Ellie' who hasn't been on this kind of form since her debut in Kidulthood.

I would describe 'An Irish Angel' as a solid, well made, well acted film with wonderful performances from the cast, there's a lot to love about An Irish Angel.