Angela’s Ashes *** (1999, Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens, Michael Legge) – Classic Movie Review 1879

Director Alan Parker keeps the faith in 1999 with author Frank McCourt’s book about his childhood in famine-stricken Ireland in this depressingly downbeat but wonderfully meticulous movie.

Young Frankie McCourt (played at various ages by Joe Breen, Ciaran Owens and Michael Legge) grows up amid a lack of heat and food, while three of his siblings pass on to a better place in the film’s first half-hour. Frank’s father (Robert Carlyle) is a jobless wastrel who disappears on drinking binges whenever there’s any money, and his mother Angela (Emily Watson) is a passive, stoical baby-maker. There seems no escape: the relatives, the Church and school are equally oppressive.

Parker makes it all look extraordinary with the help of Michael Seresin’s cinematography in the most painstaking re-creation of time and place imaginable. And those who love the novel will get a new surge of enjoyment and just adore the film. But, with its lack of light and shade, others may find it very hard-going and a total downer. Be prepared for a long running time of 145 minutes.

However, Carlyle and Watson hit the nail right on the head with their performances. Esteemed old character actor Martin Benson, aged 81, appears as a Christian brother in his last cinema film. John Williams’s score was Oscar and Golden Globe nominated – no wins. It cost $25million and grossed only $13million in the US, but it did quite well in the UK, taking £7,500,000.

Michael Legge, who is Older Frank here, plays Little Kevin in The Stag (2013), retitled The Bachelor Weekend.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1879

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