Some links before getting started today. Norma had two reviews. Eve also had reviews. Parsnip showed off her daughter's work. Krisztina had her March letter from the editor. Maria asked how much sex should be in a romance novel. And Lorelei had Amazon issues.
St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and before then, I thought I would review two very different movies, both with an Irish theme to them. This is the first of the pair.
“Do you not get it,
lads? The Irish are the blacks of Europe. And Dubliners are the blacks of
Ireland. And the Northside Dubliners are the blacks of Dublin. So say it once,
say it loud: I’m black and I’m proud.” ~ Jimmy Rabbitte
“Buddy Holly’s last
words. ‘We can’t travel in that shit heap.’” ~ Joey The Lips
“Did Buddy Holly
say that?” ~ Outspan Foster
“Before he
flew to meet his destiny on that storm-tossed night.” ~Joey The Lips
“That’s fuckin’
blasphemy! Elvis wasn’t a Cajun!” ~ Jimmy Rabbitte Sr.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” ~
Steven
“That’s three Hail Marys for you tomorrow.” ~ Natalie
“The success of the
band was irrelevant. You raised their expectations of life, you lifted their
horizons. Sure we could have been famous and made albums and stuff, but that
would have been predictable. This way it’s poetry.” ~ Joey the Lips
“As I always say, we
skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels ‘cross the floor. I was feeling
kind of seasick, but the crowd called out for more. That’s very profound,
Jimmy. What does it mean? I’m fucked if I know, Terry.” ~ Jimmy Rabbitte
In 1991, director Alan
Parker (Mississippi Burning, Fame,
Angela’s Ashes) adapted a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, bringing The Commitments to the big screen. The
story, which follows the rise and fall of a group of working class Dubliners
forming a band, is told from the point of view of the band’s manager, and
presents a character portrait of young people living hard lives and having their
expectations for life raised through the experience. Alternatively bleak and
very funny, the film has attitude and an amazing soundtrack of soul music.
Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert
Arkins) is a young Dubliner, something of a hustler looking to get ahead in the
world. He’s ambitious, drawn to music, opinionated, and a smart aleck. He’s
gotten tired of music as it is, and prefers the sound of Otis Redding, Aretha
Franklin, and Wilson Pickett: in other words, soul. Two of his friends, Outspan
Foster (Glen Hansard) and Derek Scully (Kenneth McCluskey) play in a small band
at weddings, and they ask Jimmy to manage them. He agrees- as long as they drop
their singer, who he freely admits he hates- and he envisions a band that plays
soul.
And so Jimmy starts
holding auditions for musicians at home, where he lives with his parents and
siblings. His father Jimmy Sr. (Colm Meaney) is an Elvis fanatic who’s dubious
of the whole notion. Felim Gormley turns up as the saxophonist Dean. Dick
Massey plays Billy, the first of two drummers. The second drummer, Mickah
Wallace (Dave Finnegan), starts out as the group’s bouncer (though the band
fears he’ll just make off with the
money). Michael Aherne plays Steven, a soft spoken medical student who happens
to play the piano. A middle aged trumpet player named Joey “The Lips” Fagan
(Johnny Murphy) turns up, telling Jimmy he’s come back to Ireland because God
told him the Irish need soul music, and also sharing stories of years on the
road playing with various musicians and bands. Three backup singers are
recruited, Natalie (Maria Doyle), Imelda (Angelina Ball) and Bernie (Bronagh
Gallagher). And the lead singer is someone we first meet early on, singing
while hammered at a wedding, the loutish Declan “Deco” Cuffe (Andrew Strong),
who might be an oaf, but can really sing. The film follows the band as they
meet early success and then find themselves dealing with the problems of sex, rampant
egos, and clashing personalities.
Roddy Doyle’s novel
was the first of a loose trilogy called The
Barrytown Trilogy, told in a spare, comedic style. The screenplay
adaptation involved Doyle himself, along with Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement.
The film is a mix of the comedic and the dramatic, with a rich undertone of the
music, which is the bedrock of the film. The screenplay frames the tale from
Jimmy’s point of view, told by the character as if he’s being interviewed by a
reporter named Terry- Jimmy both asks and answers the questions, and it makes
for an interesting form of narration. The writing and dialogue is sharp and pointed,
while the story has a bluntness to it. This is an inner city Irish area, where
prospects are bleak, and that sense of place and circumstance reflects itself in the personalities of these young
people. It’s noticeable in the way they talk- there’s a lot of swearing, for
instance, but that never feels gratuitous; instead, it feels like the natural
vocabulary of who these people are.
Parker helms the film
with an expert touch. The cast he chose is particularly fitting for their parts,
and Parker films their interactions through conversations, rehearsals, or
performance with just the right manner. His camerawork during performance
weaves nicely between performers and audience- he actually had previous work
directing a Pink Floyd concert film, so this isn’t surprising. He does present
the bleakness of place very well, but also gives great nods to the black humour
that springs up. And he knows how to convey those character moments in just the
right way. From Joey sharing a story with Jimmy’s parents about how Elvis
Presley’s father threw up in his trumpet to quiet moments between Jimmy and
Natalie, and Jimmy and Steven talking about the meaning of the lyrics for ‘A
Whiter Shade of Pale’, the film abounds in character moments. Parker even
leaves us wondering about Joey: is he some all knowing musical sage, or does he
tell tall tales? The richness of characterization in this film runs deep, and
Parker captures that beautifully. The film was critically acclaimed and well
received by audiences, spawning two soundtracks, winning nominations and awards,
including the BAFTA for Best Film.
The cast were chosen
first for musical skills, most of the main cast unknown, and in an odd way,
it’s fitting that most of them remain fairly unknown. Maria Doyle and Glen
Hansard are arguably the most visible members of the cast today, largely
because of Downton Abbey for Doyle
and the Oscar winning film Once for
Hansard, who co-starred in that tale of musicians. The Irish band The Corrs all
make early appearances here and there through the film- Andrea Corr plays Jimmy’s
sister Sharon, for instance, though she never sings a word. Colm Meaney gets
some of the more comedic side of things as the patriarch of the Rabbitte
family, a gruff fellow who worships Elvis; his regard for the King is even
higher than for the Pope. At one point he says defensively that Elvis is God;
Jimmy remarks: “I never pictured God with a fat gut and corset singing ‘My Way’ at Caesar’s
Palace.” The elder Rabbitte is dismissive of what his son is up to- and yet
once the band is up and running, we catch him enjoying the music. Of Joey, when
his son says that God sent him, he asks: “On a fucking Suzuki?”
The cast making up the
band are well chosen for their parts. Dick Massey is out relatively early on as
Billy the drummer, so he’s the least developed of the band. He seems, like the
others, to be a product of his environment, and his decision to walk away seems
understandable- hopeless, but understandable. His replacement Mickah, on the other
hand, is over the top. The character has a bad reputation, and is no doubt crazy, and
ferocious- he fearlessly steps into a fight to help out his manager, and oddly enough proves himself to be completely loyal to the band in the process. Mickah
might look out of place in such a band, but he’s a memorable character, and
Finnegan plays him that way. Steven is the one member of the band who has
another way to really break free of the environment he's in - medical
school. Michael Aherne plays the character as soft spoken, polite, quite
Catholic (a confession made to his priest is priceless), and perhaps a bit of a
nerd, though as things move along he develops a bit of snark. It is a likeable
character, and watching Aherne and Arkin riffing on the lyrics for a peculiar song (even the priest finds it peculiar) is fun.
Felim Gormley as Dean
is an interesting character, one who starts in one place and goes to another as
the story goes along. Early on, practicing with Joey, he’s not quite playing at
his best- until Joey tells a hilarious story about why his trumpet is named
Gina, which helps Dean along. As the band finds success though, Dean is moving
into directions of his own, leaning more towards jazz, which earns animosity
from other band members. He ends up, in short, becoming what might be best
called a wanker. Kenneth McCluskey, playing the bass as Derek, is not quite as
developed as other characters, but we see him as a guy who’s spent time
scratching out a living busking, wants more for himself, and comes across as a
likeable sort. Much the same applies for Hansard’s Outspan, the guitarist who’s
worked with Derek for years. The two are working musicians seeking something
steadier and more rewarding in life. They’re both decent guys, though as egos
flare and the more unpleasant personalities of the band- Dean and Deco- show
themselves, both are outspoken about what they think.
The ladies in the band
are strongly written and different from each other. While the initial idea of their inclusion in the band is
eye candy, they quickly shoot down the unwanted attention of leering bandmates
with a “what are you bleedin’ looking at?” remark. Bernie is a stressed out
young woman with family responsibilities trying to make a living. She’s
sarcastic and biting at times, has an unusual look to her, and knows the entire
purpose of ladies in the band. While being biting, the character is
sympathetic, and more grounded as a person. This is not quite the same with
Imelda, who comes across as flighty and indecisive at times. She’s the
bombshell, yes, but she has problems of her own: a jerk of a boyfriend and parents
with high expectations. Angelina Ball plays the character in both ways, flighty
on the one hand, but chafing at where her life is heading on the other. Maria
Doyle as Natalie is my favourite of the trio. She’s got attitude (and an
amazing voice- hearing her sing ‘I Never Loved A Man’ is a showstopper) and
sass, but there’s a softer and sympathetic side to her as well. One of my
favourite moments in the film is a quiet moment between her and Jimmy, when she
asks if he would take her home if he wasn’t the manager. “But I am the
manager,” he says, and I find myself thinking each time: look at how she’s looking at you, you fool! Turn around and go to her!
Andrew Strong was a late
addition as Deco- largely because of how well he could sing. And can he sing.
His vocals on songs like ‘Mustang Sally’, ‘In The Midnight Hour’, or ‘Try A
Little Tenderness’ are astonishing. As good a singer as he is, Strong plays the character just as well. Deco might be a good singer, but he’s an
obnoxious person, a drunken lout with an ego, not terribly bright- just the
sort of guy you’d cross the street to avoid. Which is a mark of how well Strong
plays the character. Johnny Murphy is sort of the odd man out as Joey “The
Lips” Fagan. The character is older than the rest of the cast, but absolutely
vital to the film. He’s the wise mentor, given to speaking in a lyrical way,
almost something of a mystic. He tells tales of playing with the Beatles, Elvis, or
Wilson Pickett- and we’re left to wonder about him. Is this a career musician
or a lifelong wanderer and liar? He also has a tendency to get involved with
the ladies in the band, something that drives all three of them at each other and the rest
of the band at him. The character is decidedly memorable, and that comes across
in his performance.
Robert Arkins owns the
role of Jimmy Rabbitte. He was considered for the role of Deco- and he can sing, performing a song or two on
the soundtrack albums- but he seemed to be born for this role. Jimmy’s voice as
a character comes across so strongly through the film, and that’s from the
writing and from Arkins’ performance. He has attitude and snark and the sense
of a young man working hard to raise his own expectations. Jimmy knows what he
wants, works to the best of his ability managing what becomes a clash of personalities, and comes out feeling
disillusioned- and yet there’s still a spark there, the sense that he’s come
away from all this wiser and yet not defeated.
The Commitments burned bright when it was released, and
watching it again, it still has a fresh, strong energy to it. The music, as
played by this group, still sounds as dynamic as it did for the original artists. The film is a story of a band
enjoying brief success before egos destroy it- and yet where the characters go
from there feels natural to who they are. It might be bleak at times in its depiction of life, but it
has real spirit, humour, and fire, and I always come away from this film with a big smile.
Three music selections from the movie:
