Andrea Riseborough excels as a republican activist, as Man on Wire director James Marsh tackles the Troubles
Something in this gloomy conspiracy thriller set in 1990s Belfast reminded me of an exchange between Ivor Claire and Guy Crouchback, in Evelyn Waugh's Officers and Gentlemen. Ivor asks Guy what he would do if challenged to a duel. Guy replies: "Laugh", but Ivor responds thoughtfully: "One hundred and fifty years ago, we would have to fight if challenged. Now we'd laugh. There must have been a time when it was rather an awkward question." In the 1970s, an Ira man knew it was his duty to attack the British with every violent means, but in 2012, with Martin McGuinness shaking hands with the Queen, the idea is laughable. In 1993, the era of the Downing Street declaration and the Good Friday agreement, republican footsoldiers found themselves confronted with Ivor Claire's "awkward question".
This...
Something in this gloomy conspiracy thriller set in 1990s Belfast reminded me of an exchange between Ivor Claire and Guy Crouchback, in Evelyn Waugh's Officers and Gentlemen. Ivor asks Guy what he would do if challenged to a duel. Guy replies: "Laugh", but Ivor responds thoughtfully: "One hundred and fifty years ago, we would have to fight if challenged. Now we'd laugh. There must have been a time when it was rather an awkward question." In the 1970s, an Ira man knew it was his duty to attack the British with every violent means, but in 2012, with Martin McGuinness shaking hands with the Queen, the idea is laughable. In 1993, the era of the Downing Street declaration and the Good Friday agreement, republican footsoldiers found themselves confronted with Ivor Claire's "awkward question".
This...
- 8/23/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
James Marsh garnered a lot of attention back at the 2008 Edinburgh Film Festival when he came here with his Man On Wire, which turned out to be one of that year’s highlights. That was a documentary about a unique, quixotic and fascinating (if not entirely likeable) tightrope walker. He followed it with another documentary, Project Nim, which was one of the best films I saw at last year’s (admittedly lacklustre) festival. Both documentaries are powerful and cinematic, and Marsh has an uncanny ability to keep the films visually exciting (at times “Man On Wire” is like watching a heist movie).
Marsh is back this year with Shadow Dancer, a political thriller concerning a young Ira member, Collette (Andrea Riseborough), who is caught by MI5 and convinced by Mac (Clive Owen) to become an informant. The living-a-lie tension – captured so well by Scorsese in “The Departed” – is bolstered by...
Marsh is back this year with Shadow Dancer, a political thriller concerning a young Ira member, Collette (Andrea Riseborough), who is caught by MI5 and convinced by Mac (Clive Owen) to become an informant. The living-a-lie tension – captured so well by Scorsese in “The Departed” – is bolstered by...
- 6/27/2012
- by Adam Whyte
- Obsessed with Film
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