If you are a fan of Mrs Browne's Boys then Agnes Browne serves as a sort of a prequel. The lead character is played Anjelica Huston who also directs.
The film was co-written by Brendan O'Carroll and based on his source material who also pops up as a drunk.
The film is set in a poor working class district of Ireland of the 1960s. Agnes Browne has lost her husband and has to support her seven young children. She needs to borrow money from a loan shark until her widow's benefit comes through.
Over time she pays off the loan shark but loses a close friend to cancer and finds romance with a neighbouring French baker and dreams to see Tom Jones in concert.
The film is rather bittersweet than the raucous comedy we are more used to. The story is thin, more of a slice of life in a harsh Dublin environment when working class families stuck together. The story does not always hang well together though.
Anjelica Huston makes the best out of a low budget, she makes herself appear dowdy until she goes on a date with the French baker and then pampers herself. She gets an earthy performance from her cast but Ray Winstone who puts on a good Irish accent is too much of a cartoonish villain and that is because the script is rather flat.
The film was co-written by Brendan O'Carroll and based on his source material who also pops up as a drunk.
The film is set in a poor working class district of Ireland of the 1960s. Agnes Browne has lost her husband and has to support her seven young children. She needs to borrow money from a loan shark until her widow's benefit comes through.
Over time she pays off the loan shark but loses a close friend to cancer and finds romance with a neighbouring French baker and dreams to see Tom Jones in concert.
The film is rather bittersweet than the raucous comedy we are more used to. The story is thin, more of a slice of life in a harsh Dublin environment when working class families stuck together. The story does not always hang well together though.
Anjelica Huston makes the best out of a low budget, she makes herself appear dowdy until she goes on a date with the French baker and then pampers herself. She gets an earthy performance from her cast but Ray Winstone who puts on a good Irish accent is too much of a cartoonish villain and that is because the script is rather flat.