This
Is My Father
Rated
R
Now showing
http://www.spe.sony.com/classics/thisismyfather/
You don't often get an opportunity for a good cry at the movies
in the middle of summer. I'm not talking tears of frustration
as you suffer through another mindless, over-hyped blockbuster,
but an old-fashioned, draining cry that leaves you both emotionally
exhausted and rejuvenated. If you're tired of sterile settings
like outer space, ancient Egypt and swingin'-'60s London,
and you yearn for something a bit more meaningful, follow
first-time writer and director Paul Quinn to Ireland.
Quinn's film is an unabashedly sentimental and romantic
tale set in the lonely Irish countryside. It's a film filled
with Catholic, guilt-ridden characters whose lives are dominated
by fear and solemn family pride. Told from two eras, it
expertly blends the tragic emotional fatalism of a Thomas
Hardy novel with the redemptive hope of a three-hankie Hollywood
melodrama--a compelling combination that will break your
heart.
The story starts in modern-day Illinois, where Kieran Johnson
(James Caan), an emotionally dead high-school teacher, is
consumed with thoughts of his unknown father. He decides
to spend the summer in rural Ireland, where he and his nephew
Jack (Jacob Tierney) investigate the family history. Upon
their arrival, an elderly fortune teller (Moira Deady) reveals
the entire story.
Jumping into flashback, the film becomes a tragic love
story between Kieran O'Dea (Aidan Quinn), a poor farmer,
and Fiona Flynn (Moya Farrelly), a wealthy widow's only
daughter. The film follows the pair's blossoming romance
during the spring of 1939 as sociopolitical factions, Fiona's
scandal-obsessed mother and an oppressive Catholic church
threaten to rip them apart. Quinn meticulously details a
repressed society completely uninterested in the couple's
natural feelings. On some levels the film directly indicts
the Catholic church; Ireland, it seems, is a place where
love cannot exist.
Though the modern-day material (especially the woefully
undeveloped subplot of Jack's first crush) lacks the power
of the period romance, it's essential thematically. Much
of the film is about how the past, specifically the unknown
secrets of the past, have direct influence in shaping the
future. This is the story of Kieran and his journey from
a lonely, burned-out history teacher without any sense of
his own history to a man at peace with a revitalized sense
of purpose. Using flashbacks, Quinn gives the details of
his romantic tale a more important function: They directly
affect characters' future family members.
None of this would work without wonderful performances,
and it's with his actors that Paul Quinn really shows the
most promise. Kieran's quiet mutterings, the way his body
slumps as if life is being squeezed out him by a giant vise
and, conversely, how he beams with pride whenever he's with
Fiona all showcase Aidan Quinn's subtle approach--and make
you realize that he's often miscast in other films. Caan
also impresses in a role that often favors facial expression
and body language over dialogue. When the traditionally
manly actor finally confronts his father, delivers a passionately
honest speech and subsequently breaks down, you'd have to
be a zombie not to weep along with him. The scene's sense
of emotional closure is reminiscent of the heartbreaking
father-son moment delivered by Jack Nicholson's Bobby Dupea
during the emotional climax of Five Easy Pieces. In
each case, it's a moment you're not likely to shake for
some time.
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Willamette Week | originally
published June 23, 1999
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