FILM 1693: THE CRYING GAME

TRIVIA: Neil Jordan originally intended to title the film "The soldier's wife", however he was advised by his friend Stanley Kubrick to change it. Kubrick recommended this change because he believed that films with either religious or military titles usually deterred audiences and were often financial failures (something that Jordan had experienced when his religiously titled movies The Miracle (1991) and We're No Angels (1989) flopped at the box office). Jordan selected the new title title from a 1960s hit British pop song.

The film cast includes two Oscar winners: Forest Whitaker and Jim Broadbent; and three Oscar nominees: Jaye Davidson, Miranda Richardson and Stephen Rea.

Debut theatrical feature film of actor Jaye Davidson who got Oscar nominated for his performance upon debut.

Picked by Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Independent Films" in a special supplement devoted to independent films that was only distributed to subscribers in November 1997.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

FILM 1574: BROOKLYN 

TRIVIA: John Crowley divided the movie into three different visual movements. The first movement is before Eilis leaves post-war Ireland and is with tight frames and filled with green tones. The color scheme was created by photographic reference of the time. The second movement begins when Eilis leaves for Brooklyn and the first proper wide shot is featured, while the colors become more playful as a nod to how America in 1952 was on the cusp of pop culture kicking off. The third movement is back in Ireland, brighter, more glamour and "subtly more colorful" than the first movement. Crowley wanted to showcase Eilis has changed and looks very different: "There is a slight dreamy quality to that last third," he says.

The city of Brooklyn in the film was actually shot in Montreal for budgeting reasons, as the production was unable to turn 2015 Brooklyn back to 1950s Brooklyn. Only two days of production were spent in Brooklyn, one in order to create the brownstone exterior shots and a second to film at Coney Island.

Saoirse Ronan herself was born in The Bronx, New York, but raised in Ireland to Irish parents. She considers 'Brooklyn' to be one of her most personal films and it marks the first time she plays an Irish character in a film. (In The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) she spoke with an Irish accent but played a citizen of a generic fictitious European country.) In an interview with David Poland she expressed her concern with taking the role:"I felt like I can't mess this up, because all of Ireland will be watching. I felt a huge responsibility to the country to really capture what the story was." However, she said the warm reception at the Sundance Film Festival made her realize the universal essence of the film.

While this is Saoirse Ronan's first time using her native Irish accent, the dialect of her character differs from the one she uses in reality. In this film, she uses a Wexford accent, as her character is from Enniscorthy, while she speaks with a Dublin accent in her private life.

Irish author Colm Tóibín's idea for the novel came from a child memory, in which he overheard a woman talk about her young daughter's move from Enniscorthy to Brooklyn. In 2000 he wrote a short story about this memory, but expanded it to a novel years later, after living in United States himself, as well as teaching literary courses, where he said he was inspired by Jane Austen's "method of examining a single psychology, using an introspective, sensitive heroine, some comic characters and some romance."

Saoirse Ronan received 51 award nominations for her performance.

Julie Walters claims her character is reminiscent of her real-life aunt. John Crowley offered the role to Walters because, among other things, he knew of her Irish descent; "I knew Julie had an Irish mother and I had a suspicion that she would know that woman inside out, and of course she did. She knew who she was, right down to what her hair should look like and what she should dress like. Her accent's impeccable and of course she's a hysterically funny actress, but here she's doing it in a very real way. It's beautifully played."

http://www.featureshoot.com/2016/08/confessions-girl-small-town-ireland/

FILM 1304: FAR OUT ISN'T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY

Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story depicts one man's wild, lifelong adventure of testing societal boundaries through his use of subversive art. This 98-minute film combines traditional documentary storytelling with original animation from over 70 years worth of art from the renegade children's book author and illustrator. Using a historical palette of 20th century events to paint an artist's epic yet controversial life story, this HD documentary film offers a feature-length retrospective of Ungerer's life and art, pondering the complexities and contradictions of a man who, armed with an acerbic wit, an accusing finger and a razor sharp pencil, gave visual representation to the revolutionary voices during one of the most tantalizing and dramatic periods in American history. Far Out Isn't Far Enough explores the circumstances of his meteoric rise and fall on American soil, but also delves into Ungerer's formative years leading up to, and prolific years since, his time in America.

FILM 1280: GRABBERS

TRIVIA: While writer Kevin Lehane was backpacking across the world and being bit by mosquitoes, he heard the urban legend that eating Marmite (a vitamin B rich yeast spread) prevents mosquito bites. Hearing that, he wondered whether mosquitoes also got hungover from drunk people's blood. The thought stayed with him until he returned home and wrote the script for Grabbers based on the premise 'get drunk to survive'.

Before shooting, director Jon Wright took actors Richard Coyle and Ruth Bradley out drinking and filmed them while drunk. Ruth Bradley discovered many quirks about herself while drunk that she used in her performance.

The film shot during the harshest winter in Ireland in over a hundred years. Uncharacteristic blizzards, gale force storms and sub-zero temperatures regularly hampered production, creating a difficult shoot.

FILM 1178: BARRY LYNDON

TRIVIA: Contrary to legend, this film did use artificial lighting in some scenes (for example, when Brian learns he's getting a horse). However, it is true that no electronic lighting was used for the candle-lit scenes. A lens built by the Carl Zeiss company for N.A.S.A., a fifty millimetre Zeiss lens modified with the Kollmorgen adaptor used in still cameras, was used to shoot scenes lit only by candle. This lens had the largest aperture of any ever built for movie use (f/0.7).

Many of the shots were composed and filmed in order to evoke certain eighteenth century paintings, especially those by Thomas Gainsborough.

Production was moved from Ireland to England after Stanley Kubrick received word that his name was on an IRA hit list for directing a film featuring English soldiers in Ireland.

Stanley Kubrick used to play the soundtrack's classical music during takes to get the actors in a better mood. He was reportedly influenced by Sergio Leone's method in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).

Stanley Kubrick instructed Marisa Berenson to keep out of the sun in the months before production in order to achieve the period-specific pallor he required.

A myth grew that the Academy Award-winning costumes used in the film were genuine antique clothes, but this is only partly correct. Some of the costumes were genuine antiques bought at auction by costume designer Milena Canonero, while others were custom-made specifically for the film and were based on clothing of the period and costumes seen in period paintings.

When Barry inquires about a painting, he is told it was painted by a man named "Ludovico Corde". This is a misspelling in the DVD subtitles, probably due to the pronunciation; the artist's name was Ludovico Cardi AKA "il Cigoli" and he actually was a disciple of Alessandro Allori, as it said in the movie. Interestingly, Kubrick's previous film, A Clockwork Orange (1971), prominently features a Ludovico process.

According to Stanley Kubrick's biographer, Robert Redford was the original choice for the role of Barry Lyndon but turned it down.

Brian Blessed was cut out of the final print.