This is My Father
by Paul Quinn
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aidan Quinn, Colm Meaney, Jacob Tierney, James Caan, Moira DeadyDirector: Paul Quinn
Producer: Aidan Quinn
Producer: Paul Quinn
Writer: Paul Quinn
Producer: Declan Quinn
Producer: Elie Samaha
Producer: Kieran Corrigan
Producer: Nicolas Clermont
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 119 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-10-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of This is My Father
Movie Review: Irish and unlucky in love
Summary: 5 Stars
Just like St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland, a bitter jealous widowed mother and the town priest conspire to keep Fiona and Kieran away from one another ... leading to tragic consequences.
When a middle aged Chicago teacher Kieran Johnson discovers an old photograph and inscription written to his mother it begins a search for his roots. Sadly, his mother Fiona is recovering from a stroke so she can't tell him the full story. Curiousity sends him back to Ireland to trace just what happened and what unfolds is a 1930's style forbidden affair between 17-year-old Fiona and a much older farmhand also named Kieran. Fiona has been expelled from school for her behavior but it doesn't calm her down much because the toan priest has to watch her moves at a community dance. Keiran Johnson's nephew Jack joins him on his ancestral quest and has a summer romance of his own.
Forces beyond their control eventually doom the pair and Fiona escapes to Chicago with travelling gypsies. Most of Kieran Johnson's data comes from the landlord of the B&B where he is staying and visits to his mother's abandoned childhood home. Between Irish fortune teller cards and interviews with the local villagers, Kieran pieces together the tragedy of his parents' relationship.
The saddest thing is that Kieran's mother, once a fiery and adventurous teenager, is a semi-catatonic old woman nearing the end of her life and rendered speechless in contrast to her young self. In one scene Kieran calls his mother in Chicago from Ireland after finding a long lost love letter writter by his dead father in a secret hiding place for decades. When Kieran reads out loud in his voice from Ireland his mother hears his father's voice instead and breaks out in tears. Another example of the futility that the passage of time heals a tragic memory. This film was based on a true story from Aidan Quinn's Irish parents and adapted into the screenplay.
If you love this film check out The Last Time They Met by Aniat Shreve or Cinema Paradiso (Director's Cut) from Guiseppe Tornatore.
Summary of This is My Father
Call this an Irish family reunion, onscreen and off. The brothers Quinn--debuting writer-director Paul, actor Aidan, and cinematographer extraordinaire Declan--pooled their talents on a movie about a middle-aged schoolteacher (James Caan) who makes a pilgrimage back to the Ould Sod, where he hopes to discover the truth about his mysterious dad. What he digs up, in flashback, is a Romeo-Juliet love affair blighted by class, religion, and sheer human meanness. Turns out Caan's father (Aidan Quinn, bulked up out of his usual lean good looks) was a farmhand--slow, inarticulate, pure of heart--who fell in love above his station. Vividly beautiful Moya Farrelly plays a nonconforming college girl on vacation, first amusing herself by drawing Quinn's locked-down soul into chats, dancing, and friendship, then coming to love the complex man she has freed from loneliness. But Irish angst must be served: Moya's unloving, jealous mother (Gina Moxley) and a sex-hating clergyman (Stephen Rea, wonderfully over the top) set their sights on killing the couple's happiness. In contrast to this old drama, the present-day framing story is distracting, even irritating, and cameo appearances by Colm Meaney, Brendan Gleeson, and John Cusack stick out like... well, charming guest shots. We want Paul Quinn to stay focused on the Thomas Hardy tragedy that beats at the heart of This Is My Father so that we can have more time to savor the strong, heartbreaking performances by Farrelly and his brother, backed by Declan (Leaving Las Vegas) Quinn's beautiful vision of the rich, dark world of Ireland past. --Kathleen MurphySimilar DVD Movies
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