"Trojan Eddie" (15) Screen at D'Olier Street, UCI Tallaght, Omniplex, Dublin
In marked contrast to the big-budget, special effects-driven Star Wars and Space Jam, today's two other releases, Trojan Eddie and Trees Lounge, are low-key, character-driven movies, each of which has an insecure loser at its unsentimental centre. In Trojan Eddie, that character is the eponymous Eddie (played by Stephen Rea) and nicknamed Trojan after the model of van he drives. A smooth-talking small-town chancer who runs makeshift auctions, Eddie is a settled person who works for John Power (Richard Harris), the powerful and volatile leaders of the local travellers.
Recently released from prison after being convicted for a bungled burglary, Eddie dreams of some day setting up his own business. He still longs for his wife, Shirley (Angeline Ball), who has left him to look after their two children, and he is reticent to commit to his new relationship with Betty (Brid Brennan). When the widowed Power gets married again to a much younger woman (Aistin McGuckin), Power's nephew (Stuart Townsend), who works as Eddie's assistant, takes off with the bride - and her very substantial dowry - on her wedding night.
Trojan Eddie is scripted by the accomplished Wexford playwright, Billy Roche, who makes an auspicious cinema debut with this convincing and entirely unpatronising picture of traveller culture in present-day Ireland. There are a few initial confusions as the film introduces its multi-charactered cast and we establish their relationships to each other. When that process settles, the film's Scottish director, Gillies Mackinnon, confidently steers Roche's narrative along its engaging route.
In this story inspired by the myth of Diarmuid and Grainne and steeped in tradition and codes of honour and loyalty, it is Eddie who is the outsider and the Travellers who are the insiders. The film is revealing in its wealth of incidental detail and the dialogue is rhythmic and rings true all the way, as delivered by an excellent cast that also includes Sean McGinley, Brendan Gleeson, Sean Lawlor and Britta Smith.
In the leading roles Richard Harris is refreshingly restrained, capturing the hurt behind Power's bullying exterior, and Stephen Rea is on fine form, expressing Eddie's innate vulnerability, while newcomers Stuart Townsend and Aislin McGuckin make a strong impression. The production design by Frank Conway and Consolata Boyle's costumes heighten the movie's striking visual quality.
"Trees Lounge" (members and guests only) IFC, Dublin
The ubiquitous US indie actor, the pallid and toothy Steve Buscemi, turns director and takes the leading role in Trees Lounge, a quirky and winning picture of mostly disillusioned and hard-drinking characters who are down on their luck and hang out at the eponymous Long Island bar.
Buscemi plays Tommy Basilio, a mechanic who has lost both his job, because of theft, and his girlfriend (Elizabeth Bracco) who is now pregnant by his former boss and former best friend (Anthony LaPaglia). Tommy gets temporary work driving his late uncle's ice cream van, but gets himself deeper into trouble when he finds himself unexpectedly drawn to his 17-year-old helper (Chloe Sevigny from Kids).
Working from his own screenplay which draws on his personal experiences and acquaintanaces - and under the influence of John Cassavetes Buscemi's film is made with a spare simplicity and assembled as a series of telling vignettes in which not a great deal happens, and it is populated by diverse, well-etched, inter-connected characters. Initially resistible, it gradually exerts and sustains a seductive hold on the viewer.
