The Butcher Boy
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Movie Reviews of The Butcher Boy
Movie Review: masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Have been waiting for this for years, after buying a vhs ex rental copy years ago!
Who knows why it has taken so long, but this film is easily Jordans best film by far.
A wonderfully cast and shot film. Essential.
Movie Review: Neil Jordan't best film
Summary: 5 Stars
Should've won a Best Picture Oscar, its release year. See it. 'Nuff said.Movie Review: Neil Jordan's brilliant, overlooked gem.
Summary: 4 Stars
The Butcher Boy (Neil Jordan, 1999)
Neil Jordan has always struck me as having a thing for deep, meaningful pictures that are, in general, neither terribly deep nor terribly meaningful. The Butcher Boy is the exact opposite of everything Jordan usually does, and almost by definition, it packs more of a punch in the deep-and-meaningful department than anything Jordan's done to date. Needless to say, it went entirely unnoticed in the States. I strongly suggest you rectify that as soon as possible.
The Butcher Boy himself is Francie (Eamonn Owens), a rowdy kid who, as we open, is on the verge of descending into a life of petty crime. His best friend, Joe (Alan Boyle), does his level best to keep Francie on the straight and narrow, but as is usually the case, Francie's particular brand of temptation usually wins out, and the two find themselves forever getting into scrapes. More and more, these revolve around Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw), the town busybody, who really does have it in for Francie. It doesn't help that Francie's home life is the very definition of dysfunctional, nor that the town's old ladies are so willing to fall for his charms. Eventually, though, things come to a head, and the inevitable chaos results. From there, however, it's quite a bit farther to the ultimate ending of this tale (of which we get a taste in the film's opening scene), and if anything, Jordan's depiction of Francie after the decline and fall is even better than his depiction of the rise. This is where we find out that Francie is not just a kid we can laugh at, but one we can empathize with. (And if you're not cheering when the bad guy ends up getting hers, well then, you probably weren't meant for this movie in the first place.)
I loved this movie far more than I expected to. Highly recommended, even (perhaps especially) for those who've always found Jordan an overblown windbag who takes himself too seriously in the past. ****
Movie Review: Black Comedy Chronicles a Boy's Descent into Psychosis
Summary: 4 Stars
I had no idea what I was getting into when I watched this. Heartbreaking, darkly comic, but undeniably realistic, this film shows a fairly resourceful preteen boy's coping skills cruelly overcome by his family's misery and his best friend's abandonment. Francie's desperate fantasies that his friend Joe still cares about him, and his quickly-masked moments of devastation when those fantasies are crushed, are beautifully acted by young Eamonn Owens (and beautifully directed by Neil Jordan). Although the climax is shocking, the plot points leading up to it require no suspension of disbelief. The humor that pervades both the narration and the young Francie character makes you chuckle even as your heart aches. A unique and brilliantly-done film.Movie Review: Ugly Step-Sister
Summary: 3 Stars
Much of what makes this a "good movie" comes about because the book from which it comes is a great work of literature, whereas the movie's faults reside solely within itself, arising particularly from questionable directorial decisions. The novel deserves far more attention and respect--even awe--than it has garnered thus far, while the movie, and particularly its direction, are subject to second-guessing, to put it mildly.
Most importantly, the entire tone of the movie is handled incorrectly. These events are not comedic. They are tragic. What's funny about broken dreams, poverty, suicide, alcoholism, child molestation, insanity, and murder? Absolutely nothing! And yet, at every turn, the director attempts to "lighten up" this journey into darkness with silly, happy music to lend a madcap feel to these events, as though none of this really matters. The voice-overs are merry, downright gleeful, in tone. Isn't it funny that Dad is beating Mom again? Oh well, same old thing, ha-ha! The director repeats over and over in his comments to the film that this is a comedy, this is a comedy, as though trying to convince himself, and, to be sure, the novel is not without its savage, opaque humor. But the relative ratio of tragedy to comedy presented in the film is flatly inappropriate, and it creates a disconnect between Francie's actions and the emotional circumstances that help to inspire them. It's as though the director is telling us that these events are too tragic to be portrayed in all their ugliness, so why not lessen the impact with a good ole romp. He doesn't trust us with the truth.
How long do we see Francie in the slaughterhoue? Seconds. Yet the novel shows us just how much the circumstances of Francie's job prey upon his mind. The pigs know they are in a slaughterhouse. They are intelligent enough to grasp that they will die and cannot escape. They smell fear and blood, and we are made to experience this too. The Francie of the novel is awash in blood and death and in the knowledge of these, and yet in the movie only Mr Leddy is shown to kill a pig, and only off-camera. Where is the horror these events should instill in us? It is giggled away.
And Francie's mother's furious cake-baking? It's treated as everything else is treated in the film: a silly quirk, an idiosyncrasy, a slight over-reaction. The novel makes clear her frantic baking is her desperate attempt to control at least some aspect of her tragic life or to run away from it just as fast and as far as she can. Again, this is not funny, should not be treated as funny. We know from the novel, by the way, that Uncle Alo is a fraud and has come to the party hoping to get a little cash...an important fact left out of the film. The film shows him as a misunderstood hero, whereas readers know him to be just another nail in the social consciousness of the family's coffin, as it were.
Comedic tone aside, there are other serious flaws with this film. Did anyone notice that Francie goes to Dublin early in the morning, has breakfast, sees a movie, buys Ma a present, then comes home in the afternoon to interrupt his mother's funeral? This was a very jarring flaw in the film's timeline. We are never shown that he is gone for more than a day. We know Ma was always in a rush, but.....
And Francie beating up two grown men when he himself is about 10 years old? Ludicrous. Taking the actor who played Francie's dad and dying his hair orange to play an older version of Francie? Dumb. Who didn't feel cheated by this laziness on the part of the director?
Buy the book. Read the novel. And yes, watch the movie, too. It's still better than many. But give the credit where it is due: To the strength of the original writer's vision and not to its careless, happy-go-lucky, watered-down cinematic step-sister