This movie is a life changer. Came across it one summer night at 2am. Sucked me in. The night. the journey. The eccentric characters. I loved it. Still do. bar stools and bus stops.
The score alone, my God the opening theme is one of the most dramatic almost dirge like clashing brass openings ever, that descends to this sweet melancholy sound and back again. Jesus Mary and Joseph what a way to begin a film. (I'd love to hear a New Orleans brass band take it on). Great film, best Mason role ever. Dark and human and lovely and dreary. For the love of Mike if you haven't seen it, grab your tissues and sit down and watch it.
I'm not irish or a film expert in anyway however I did by odd chance ended up taking an Irish film studies class and this one really hit for some odd reason. the themes of faith, judgment and desire a hit like a truck and I'm honestly surprised to see a movie this well made not getting the mainstream attention it deserves
Everything works in this film. the acting,the atmosphere, the film design, the strange people and of course Mason as the Christ like figure trying to make it through the night.NOT to be missed.
Part of Kathleen's story is that she has no idea if he might come to love her. He doesn't at the beginning. By the end he is a desperate man, who can tell love from desperate need? That is both the power and the tragedy-sharpening ambiguity of Kathleen's love, for which she is willing to pay any price. I am reminded of another Mason movie, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, and the line "The measure of love is what one is willing to give up for it."
The tram at 0.30 has the destination for 'Falls Road' in Belfast. I know that the film was set in Belfast but I didn't know that it was actually filmed there too.
To all three reasons: No, no, no. The reason is staring you in the eye. Have you ever seen the booger of an angel looked so much like a booger of an angel?
Superb story, saw this in the Caversham Regal when I was nine. I sympathised with the injured man, everything going against him. I obviously did not fully understand the politics during it. I took an instant dislike to what would have been the thuggish RUC. Grew up despising evil Establishments manipulating us poor beggars because they are the worlds bullies. Maybe I shall put the blame on Carol Reed. LOL.
I'm a big Mason fan and a big noir fan, but the way in which the characters were developed early on seriously undermine the motive of the film. These so called hard men and women could have just as easily decided to go to a church picnic rather than execute a heist. If I had to do it over again, I would start watching the film when the boys pull up to the mill
As much as I love the film, it isn't a noir. The main character was never good gone bad, which by definition is what makes noir a noir film, not just hard light in black and white.
No, but he is self-destructive. We can feel in the begining he's not up to do the robbery, he even mentions that parlamentary action is a more suitable way than violence. But regardless of that attitude he still does the job and eventually find his doom as a consequence. I think he has the main atributes of a noir character.
If that were the definition of noir, many of the universally agreed paradigmatic cases of noir would have to be thrown out. Noir isn't a necessary-and-sufficient-conditions concept, it's more of a cluster concept or family-resemblance concept.
@@zarquondam Well, I don't know what to tell you, but that's what noir is based on, no matter how much it has been misconstrued or regerminated (there's plenty of books on it). It isn't just black-and-white plus gangster or detective. Each noir plot has its inherent value, even according to Billy Wilder, that the protagonist must be someone who wouldn't normally do something bad but must, so the good guy can go after him. Crime-drama or crime-action is not the same as noir. Just think about it the same way people misuse the word "neo" for genres and you'll be fine.
