If music be the food of love, there’s a sumptuous three course musical meal served as part of this year’s Irish Film Festival which goes on line from September. For goodness sake book now! www.irishfilmfestival.com.au
CROCK OF GOLD – A FEW ROUNDS WITH SHANE McGOWAN is arguably film maker, Julian Temple’s magnum opus.
The polysemy of the title is preposterously apt as the former front man of The Pogues is both pugilistic linguistically and libation fuelled loquacious. A few rounds with Shane may leave you shickered and verbally punch drunk.
Frank and forthright, this opinionated Paddy poet laureate holds court with Gerry Adams, Johnny Depp and his wife Victoria Mary Clarke, answering questions, or not, landing honest body blows and upper cuts to politics, history, the English and the Irish, the music business, literature and pots more, while sinking a few rounds of his preferred poison.
Animation, archival footage and the above mentioned combative conversations are seamlessly stitched together by Temple to present a unique bio pic documentary reflecting all the many places Shane inhabits – the invisible world, Ireland, hedonism, alcoholism, God, poetry and literature, redemption and romance, blarney and truth, all in their respective grit and glory.
In a cinematic journey, via the inventions of the Pogues and the Popes, via the hits, the flops, the flame outs of fame, the triumphs and the disasters, the love, the hate, the bodily abuse and miraculous survival against the odds.
Growing up in a culture of strong anti-Irish sentiment in Britain, Shane has lived life to the hilt, slipping onto the knife edge more times than many, putting every atom of his humanity on the line with his raw, unflinching and unashamed songs. Shane captures the spirit of Ireland and the mood of the Irish diaspora whilst on his own very personal voyage into the heart of darkness and always with a drink in hand.
Channelling Shane MacGowan’s unique personality through the vision of his inimitable and eternally vibrant lens, Julien Temple comments: “Irascible, intractable, infuriating, fascinating, appalling, galling, bellicose, comatose, cantankerous, cadaverous, impossible, unstoppable – filming Shane is like flying through a radioactive rainbow, but in the end, there is an inner ‘Crock of Gold’ waiting to be discovered.”
CROCK OF GOLD culminates with Shane’s sixtieth birthday celebration where singers, movie stars and rock ’n roll outlaws gather for a knees-up to remember. Concert footage features Bono, Lisa O’Neil and Nick Cave performing Shane’s songs.
It’s with some incredulity to realise it’s been forty-five years since Phil Lynott departed this earth.
Flamboyant frontman of the band Thin Lizzy, Phil Lynot was not only a premier performer but a talented songwriter, the musical plasma of Dublin bubbling through his veins.
Directed by Emer Reynolds. PHIL LYNOTT – SONGS FOR WHILE I’M AWAY takes us all the way back to Phil’s pregnancy to a Black man in post War England, her decision to foster Phil to her family in Dublin, and his growing up in a town where his colour was unique.
His musical growth is explored, the machinations of forming bands and keeping them together, and Thin Lizzy’s beginnings during a 1960s.
Their unexpected smash hit with Whiskey in the Jar was both a boon and an embarrassment, finally eclipsed by their smash hit, The Boys are Back In Town.
Delving into everything from his motivations and demons, to his eclectic songs and lyrics — including those written for his two daughters — we get a fuller impression of both a Phil Lynott as a solo artist keen to collaborate, and the front man for the potent live act that Thin Lizzy became.
On hand are friends, bandmates and admirers to recall elements of a somewhat poignant story that includes the search for the father Lynott never really knew.
This beautifully executed new film includes footage of the Thin Lizzy’s renowned 1978 Australia/NZ tour where they played outside the Sydney Opera House as 100,000 fans gathered and even got to hear them soundcheck earlier in the day with a half-hour impromptu jam.
Huge in the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia, Thin Lizzie never really cracked it in America, and the whys and wherefores are examined as well as the slumps and revivals up until the Phil Lynnot’s death in 1986.
The documentary, Áine Tyrrell – Irish Troubadour, combines two story lines. The narrative arc is provided by Áine’s journey to Woodford Festival and the accompanying colour and excitement of Australia’s biggest and craziest folk festival.
Inter-cut with this narrative arc is a character based bio-pic of Áine Tyrrell looking at her journey to escape domestic violence. In coming to Australia, Áine was attempting to save a relationship with a violent partner. After much heart-searching Áine has decided to talk publicly about the experience where her Australian dream became a nightmare.
When she was at her lowest ebb, Áine bought a 1966 Bedford bus and took her 3 young children on the road. Like an out back Partridge Family but without the twee, Áine’s goal is to be a working artiste and a mother to her children.
What seeps through her songs and her teaching is her passion about passing on her Irish language and culture to her family and equally passionate to respect and absorb the Aboriginal heritage of her adopted land.
She sees this as her destiny, as both cultures bore the brunt of English invasion.
Enda Murray’s lively, enlightening and entertaining film is not just a tribute to an artist who already has a phenomenal fan base but a splendid introduction to a performer some may not be familiar with.
FESTIVAL DETAILS
When: Online across Australia 3-12 September 2021
www.irishfilmfestival.com.au
Richard Cotter
