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A while back, I was contacted by a fellow Irish filmmaker named Craig Moore. He had a feature film titled “Monged” that he made and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing it. I obliged and had a great time with it (you can read that review here). Since then, Craig and I have kept in touch and he recently asked me if I’d review two of his earlier films, “Any Last Words” and “An Irish Father.” Being short movies, I decided to review them both here.
In “Any Last Words,” we have a man (Graham Earley), whose life has obviously been turned upside down. As he paces his garage, we can hear his thoughts, and he wants to make the person responsible for his personal loss, pay. And pay dearly! Sometime later, he drives his vehicle to a wide open field in the middle of nowhere and from the back of his van, he grabs an older gentleman, Matthew O’Neill (George Bracebridge), and forces him to the ground, face down. After retrieving a shotgun from the front of the vehicle, he points it at Matthew, desperately wanting to pull the trigger but when he starts begging for his life, he cannot go through with it so he roughs him up and then knocks him out. When Matthew awakens, he is alone, with nobody else around. A smirk makes its way across his face, almost like he anticipated the would-be shooter wouldn’t be able to achieve his objective. Later, the driver is back in his van, wondering if he did the right thing but it is plainly obvious that he regrets not being able to go through with his intended actions.
With “An Irish Father,” Edward (Carl Finnegan), a young man, has just completed his final session with his counselor. Estranged from his father for many years, and having turned to alcohol after his wife left him when he lost his job, he feels the need to visit his father and have a face to face. During the course of their conversation, he constantly inquires why his father never loved him, never gave him a hug, or a pat on the back while he was growing up. He informs him that his mother and father didn’t care or love him either so in a way, he’s a damaged soul, the sins of the father. The movie ends with his father telling Edward that no matter what happened between them, he always loved him, in his own way.
Both these films were very short, “Any Last Words” was only eleven minutes long while “An Irish Father” was only seven but the great thing about shorts, is that a good filmmaker can tell whatever story they want, in a brief amount of time. While Craig directed “Any Last Words,” he did not direct “An Irish Father,” that task was given to Carl Finnegan, although Craig did produce it. For the longest time, my faith in Irish movies was severely tested, it seemed that the majority of them were either period pieces, or intense dramas about abuse, alcoholism, or both. Occasionally, a comedy would slip through, such as the “Barrytown” trilogy, “The Guard” and “Waking Ned Devine,” but they are far and few between. With this new generation of Irish filmmakers, they are adding elements that for years, have always been associated with American movies; aerial shots, extreme wide angles, and thank God neither of these films succumbed to the “shaky cam” approach to filmmaking, a gimmick that has long overstayed its welcome. Both movies are portrayed realistically and because the filmmakers are good at what they do, it makes you wish that the stories were longer. That is the goal to a good short, to make the audience yearn for more.
And they have succeeded. Both films are filled with magnificently understated performances and deft direction. The cinematography is a breath of fresh air as we get to see more and more of Ireland from the air and in speaking with Craig recently, he informed me that he is already hard at work on a sequel to “Any Last Words.” Titled “Secrets to the Grave,” he wouldn’t tell me more about it but that it should see the light of day hopefully before 2017, and that he is planning a third film to complete what will be known as the “Driver Trilogy.” With “Any Last Words” being Craig’s first foray into filmmaking, I eagerly await his next project, short or feature, and you should too as I feel like Craig Moore will be a name the world will be hearing a lore more from.
An Irish Father – Official Teaser Trailer from MooreForLessProductions on Vimeo.
