DANCING AT LUGHNASA (US/Irish)
A review by Mark R. Leeper in bullet-list form
from the Toronto Internation Film Festival
CAPSULE: Change comes to a household of five unmarried sisters during the Donegal, Ireland summer of 1936. Some well-observed performances, but this is not a film in which a whole not happens. It is unusual for Meryl Streep to play so negative a person, though she does make the character understandable. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), 2 (-4 to +4)
- Kate (Meryl Streep), Christine, her out-of-wedlock son Michael, Agnes, Maggie, and Rose live in a small cottage. Michael (as a man many years later) is the narrator. - Kate, the eldest, is a self-righteous tyrant. In town she is everybody's least favorite schoolteacher, cruelly but well- nicknamed "the gander". She is incredibly judgmental and inflexible. Always can sum up in one or two well-chosen sentences why someone else should be serious and should not enjoy life. - Two visitors come this summer. Uncle Jack (Michael Gambon), a missionary physically back from Africa, mentally still there. Also visiting is Jack Evans, Michael's handsome father, on his way to fight for the Republicans in Spain. - A Michael Gambon performance is always worth seeing. - Nice photography of Irish country life. - Puritanical Kate is fighting the coming of change. - Rose is a little simple-minded and is tempted to go off with Danny Bradley who is married but separated. - Michael has no memories of his father and father must win over son. - Uncle Jack is like the fool in KING LEAR. From his strange and addled mind come the most logical thoughts. - A different and mostly unsympathetic role for Streep. - Interface of religion and two different kinds of paganism. - Release will probably be in November accompanied by ads in Variety saying "For your consideration..."
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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