The rural landscape and a farm in Ireland is the backdrop for sibling rivalry amidst the sadness of maternal loss in Tom Berkeley and Ross White‘s delightful comic drama AN IRISH GOODBYE.
Turlough (Seamus O’Hara) and Lorcan (James Martin) live on an enticing farm deep in the Irish countryside. Lorcan has Downs Syndrome and remains as stubborn as they come, whereas Turlough has embarked to the Big Smoke of London where his culinary talents seem to be treated with indifference (as is often the case when you are ex-patriate and assimilated into the British Capital)
The sudden death of their mother yields the inevitable old feelings of resentment, expressed from the departed in a bucket list of a hundred wishes that Lorcan has misinterpreted as things he should do rather than his late mother. Turlough reluctantly agrees to allow it to happen before carting Lorcan off to their aunt, but is determined to return to London afterwards…
An affectionate story of brothers conflicted by circumstance, emotion and family, AN IRISH GOODBYE encompasses the universal spirit of Irish storytelling and classic comic conflict personified in the likes of THE QUIET MAN, IN BRUGES and current release THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN riding the wave of 2022-23 awards hope for its’ creative team.
James Martin steals the show with a sharp-tongued aside to the more reserved but ultimately knife-edged O’Hara amidst a tale that reminds one of the Jack Nicholson starrer THE BUCKET LIST.
Overall, this is a heartwarming if acid-tongued family comedy with much appeal to audiences and one that should continue to garner attention on the festival circuit.
