Thanks for the memories!

Really Surprised!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Without giving too much away (I put spoiler just in case), this was just a really sweet movie. Good cinematography, an interesting plot without too much heavy drama, and excellent music. The acting, of course, was great although it did irk my mother and I (both violinists, among other types of musician) that it didn't seem everyone was playing their instruments (see Goofs). That was a small goof compared to how good the movie was. I particularly enjoyed the (from what I remember) absence of music unless they were playing. It made the performances more pronounced and didn't give away clues to the audiences like so many other soundtracks do. I also liked the family dynamics between the brothers and how it all worked out in the end. Definitely recommend to anyone, especially of Irish heritage like me Da.

It is the 1960s, and the Beetles' music is sweeping the world. There is an annual competition in Dublin, the type of music has a name but is unfamiliar to most of the world. The local favorite band is getting ready for it, with the boys of County Clare, and one very cute and very talented girl.At the same time a band based in Liverpool is getting ready for the same competition, and its leader is the brother of the leader of the Irish band. So much of the movie involves heated competition between the brothers, including some antics to try to delay each one enough to miss the registration deadline of 8PM.Things get more complicated when the young girl in the Irish band begins to fall for a nice young boy in the Liverpool band. Her mother is unusually upset by this, and warns her daughter not to run off to Liverpool. "Let him come to you."SPOILERS. The young daughter happens to also be the daughter of the Liverpool brother, a womanizer who had had a short fling with her mother years earlier. At first it seemed that the girl would go back to Liverpool with the band, but she changed her mind and statued home. But eventually the boy from Liverpool showed up for her, as her mother had suggested. Also, a dark horse won the competition, a band put together by the 3rd of the violin playing brothers, now a missionary priest who had brought along a group of black musicians he had taught to play the Irish music.

Some films may be predictable, with minimal storyline and action sequences and still be a hit. THE BOYS AND GIRL FROM COUNTY CLARE hits that description on target. This is an emerald of a jaunty little Irish tale that thoroughly entertains with a fine cast and superb Irish music and leaves the audience wholly satisfied - AND has a fine social comment! The setting is County Clare where the International Irish Music festival is at hand. For years John-Joe McMahon (Bernard Hill) and his little band have won the ceili (Irish dance music) band competition. Members of his hometown orchestra include young Anne (Andrea Corr) and her unmarried grumpy piano-playing mother Maisie (Charlotte Bradley). Word comes round that John-Joe's long estranged brother Jimmy (Colm Meaney) has a band from Liverpool, a band that includes Liverpudlian types including young and handsome flautist Teddy (Shaun Evans) and is aimed in the direction of the Festival to compete. In fine Irish tradition the two mutually angry brothers try to sabotage each other's appearance, but alas they both come face to face in the competition. With Jimmy's arrival we discover that Maisie's negative outlook comes from the fact that Jimmy is the one who wantonly got her pregnant and Anne is Jimmy's daughter. Maisie is forced to admit to Anne her betrayal of ancestry news and the mother/daughter relationship is strained to the breaking point.Anne and Teddy (naturally) fall for each other and the two of them decide to return to Liverpool after the festival ends with neither's band the winner. This development is threatening to Maisie and she finally confronts Jimmy with her pent up resentment and disappointment. How the young ones cope with their situation and emotions and resolve the problem of distance is the finale of this sweet story and is best left to the viewer to discover.The acting is homogeneously fine with the comedy and drama in fine balance. And oh the music! Director John Irvin has created a little jewel of a film that warms the proverbial cockles of your heart. Grady Harp

I had just finished watching a movie and I was planning either to write about it or to go to sleep once and for all. But then, a beautiful music (got to thank Fiachra Trench for that) arrived to my ears. Never mind, I was about to get up when I saw this girl, this lady; this beautiful woman. I recognized her from somewhere and in less than a minute I remembered her. Andrea Corr, the singer of The Corrs (a group that ironically Fiachra Trench helps musically) and now actress for the third time. She has a trapping screen presence; she's gorgeous and full of joy.The story came next, and it involved what I most love in the whole world: music. But it is not that typical music contest story. There's music all along, and a contest too; but first time screenwriter Nicholas Adams involved another things: love, family and feelings. It's the most charming script, really, in the way it introduces the film's characters, one by one and in the way it deceives us keeping the most predictable secrets hidden until the right moments.We first meet Jimmy (a very acceptable Colm Meaney), playing with his music band. He has many gifted musicians under his direction, including Teddy (an excellent young actor named Shaun Evans), who makes Jimmy because he is fond of modern music and plays that all the time. Then an old man gets up from a bed and walks a little bit. This is John Joe (Bernard Hill, that captain from Titanic now in top form), who lives, we quickly understand, for music. His band is led by Maisie (Charlotte Bradley) in the piano, and Anne, (the character played by Andrea Corr) who has a gift for the violin.Thinking in other movies of this type, the music movies that bring up past moments for the people involved in the contest and other things like that, "The fighting temptations" came to mind. Mainly because it starred Beyoncé Knowles, in what was a vehicle for her, because she promoted her songs and the camera focused her intentionally and constantly. Here, Andrea Corr is another stunning actress inside the ensemble, and if you don't know who she is, you'll enjoy her brilliant portrayal of a messed up teenager (she played a teenage girl with 29 years) who needs someone that guides her way.In comparison with "The fighting temptations", the ending here is different. It is what I was talking about Nicholas Adams' script, very sympathetic. Then the characters are real and we understand them. For example, John Joe says that Jimmy has no rhythm and when we see Jimmy playing alongside his band, his feet are totally out of time. Real are also the characters' personalities, that stick to them in all of their actions. So we laugh because of how stupid some characters are and the opportunities they miss because of the things they do. We get moved in the beautiful love story because we understand life can be like that sometimes and because the chemistry between the actors in undeniable.John Irvin directed passionately and correctly a movie that's for anyone. Anyone who likes music, anyone who likes love, anyone who appreciates family and I forgot, the ending...Probably the most awkwardly pleasant ending I've witnessed in a long time. You'll see what I'm talking about.