Vivienne Dick, 1981, 38 min.
Bob Quinn, 1983, 52 min.
Visibility: Moderate and Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoir are screening in the cinema on Friday 3/18 at 7:30PM for a suggested donation of $15 as part of Ár Lorg Saoirse: A Radical Irish Cinema
Visibility: Moderate
Vivienne Dick’s first film after the New York series takes her back to her native Ireland. Using Super 8 film as a parody of the ‘travelogue’ or home-movie style film, Dick takes a expatriate, tourist look at her homeland. The narrative follows Margaret Ann Irinsky as the American tourist trekking from a Dublin populated by Hare Krishnas and rock music, to the horse-drawn carriages in the west of Ireland and the kissing of the Blarney stone. The quaint perception of Ireland and the Americanization of the native culture are contrasted with interviews from sectarian prisoners and footage of political marches. As in all her work, Dick uses a mixture of verité shots which capture the essence of the locality and intersperses them with images which have a totally different feel. This method is used to highlight issues in a subtle way wherein the camera takes an active rather than a voyeuristic role.
-LUX
Caoineadh Airt Ui Laoir (Lament for Arthur Leary)
Following in the footsteps of James Joyce and Flann O’Brien, Bob Quinn blended postmodern skepticism of official narratives with visions of Irish history in this film. Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoire begins as the story of a group of unruly players who refuse the orders of their British director (John Arden) as he orchestrates a dramatic retelling of the life of Irish rebel Art O’Leary. Intercut with this is the troupe’s performance of O’Leary’s story; parallels between the two narratives quickly mount up, with the actor taking the part of O’Leary (Séan Bán Breathnach) facing down the director in both of the film’s narratives. Avowedly nationalist in his politics, the skill with which Quinn juggles his twin narratives is remarkable and was, at the time, near-unprecedented in Irish cinema.
-Irish Film Institute
