DANCING AT LUGHNASA A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
The five lonely Mundy sisters, played by Meryl Streep as Kate, Catherine McCormack as Christina, Kathy Burke as Maggie, Sophie Thompson as Rose and Brid Brennan as Agnes, live in a bleak and remote Irish village in DANCING AT LUGHNASA. Living with them is Christina's 8-year-old "love child," Michael (Darrell Johnston), and their recently returned brother, a priest named Father Jack (Michael Gambon).
The movie, based on Brian Friel's play, is set in the hauntingly beautiful Donegal area of Ireland. Jack, a gristled old missionary, has returned after 25 years in Africa. An ordained Catholic priest, Jack, with his African background, is much more interested in pagan religions than Christianity. His scrambled brain, which appears to have been fried by too much time in the hot African sun, has his mouth rambling and speaking nonsense. One of his recommendations to his sisters is that they all have a love child since it's quite popular in Africa.
Streep, a vocal chameleon, gets to add a rich Irish accent to her list of vocal tricks. Called "a damn righteous bitch" by one of her sisters, Kate actually has a fairly mild disposition. One wishes that Frank McGuinness's script would have made her bitchier to add more tension in the lackluster drama. The family's matriarch, she imparts such wisdom to her brood as, "a woman's modesty is everything."
The sisters look and dress similarly, and the script does not create enough depth to make them stand out as individuals. They seem instead to be collectively, "the sisters."
"Are you really my Daddy?" Michael asks his father in one of the few funny lines in a laugh-starved movie. "You've seen me 5 or 6 times," his father replies. "Don't you remember?"
A slow moving tale of poorly drawn characters, the movie has a strong cast, but the script gives the players little to say that is worth hearing. Shot mainly with interior scenes, the movie spends most of its time in uninteresting small talk among the sisters. One keeps hoping that something awful will happen to one of them to get the narrative going. Instead, we get an hour and a half of director Pat O'Connor running out the clock.
Bill Whelan's luxurious music and Kenneth MacMillan's radiant cinematography outshine the threadbare storyline. This dreadfully dull film will have you looking in vain for something to keep your interest lest you begin to nod off.
It is hard to believe that the poorly scripted movie would have been green-lighted for production without Streep. Given the script, it is equally hard to understand why Streep agreed to do the movie. On stage, the play may have worked, but this movie version doesn't.
"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Maggie asks toward the end of the picture. I confess that my immediate reaction was, "no, and I don't care." By then they had wasted an hour and half of fine film stock with nothing to show for their work other than wasting the audience's time. Sometimes even a fine cast is unable to save a dismal endeavor.
DANCING AT LUGHNASA runs 1:32. It is rated PG for mature themes and would be fine for kids around 12 and up. There is nothing to offend younger kids, but they will probably be bored.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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