at a screening in NYC. The movie is phenomenal . I haven't seen good acting like these two in a very long time. John Joe McNeill gives a remarkable performance in this. I'm a very very critical person and this he has earned my respect. I found the script very original...very funny and touching. I say 2 thumbs up!
shareThat's good to hear. :-)
I'm sure they are of secondary importance to the boys' performances, but how were the adult performances?
I played Gank
shareHi Gank. :-)
I look forward to seeing the film.
I absolutely HATED it! I saw a preview last night, and walked out after an hour-which is something I normally don't do. "Mickybo" is a child sociopath, which is a rather disturbing thing, and has a really whiny voice. After a while his beligerant, downright nuts behavior and whiny voice made me REALLY not want to see or hear him at all! The other kid started out ok but as he allowed himself to repeatedly get pulled into Mickeybo's various plots & schemes, I liked him a lot less. Both fathers are jerks, and I suppose we are supposed to feel sorry for the boys. But Mickybo has absolutely no appealing side to him, and if their adventures are supposed to be funny, they fell flat with me. They got into one misadventure after another, and after Mickybo accidentally set fire to a barn, I said that's it, I've had enough!
shareYou must lead a very sheltered (middle class midwest American?) to think Mickybo has no redeeming traits. A born leader, a born survivor, just the kind of traits the "world" both desperately needs, but usually smashes. and sorry that not everyone speaks like an American newscaster. Life's tough, ehh.
shareI agree with you gotham. That girl should get a life.
shareheyhey. dont start bashing americans now.
haha im from new york.
i thought the film was AMAZING. the subtle humor along with the serious subject matter was just so good. i dont think it could have been done any better. the two boys were fantastic. i wish there was an interview out there with them.
and i love the accents. =]
Adrian Dunbar who played Micky's dad was only memorable at the end of the movie. Ciarán Hinds was more present and he made his character an *beep* so it was easy to dislike him.The entire movie surrounds the boys so there's very few sceneds with the adults in it, compared to the boys anyways.
shareThanks for the details. :-)
share[deleted]
I'm sure you'll enjoy the film. The twins were cute and said their lines very well.
shareWas any of it actually filmed in Belfast and if so, where?
Reason I ask is that they often go to the likes of Manchester etc for the run-down property/street scenes. There's very little, if any, old houses or property left here!
[deleted]
Hi.
Brilliant film, highly recomended.
I can't place the Belfast street locations but when they are hitch-hiking I think that is the coast road near Tyrella with the wind-swept trees; when they are in the lorry the distant shot is the road above Spelga Dam in the Mournes travelling towards the sea; the playground must be in East Belfast because the crane in Harland & Wolff is quite close in the background; when they are walking up the ploughed field towards a large derelict house it is on the righthand side of the road to Newcastle from Ballynahinch, just after Clough down the slope; the pier scene near the end is Donaghadee; the bank hold-up is Castlewellan. Does anyone know which scene was set in Dromore? or where the Police car was parked on the hill when Johnjo smashes the window?
At the beginning of the film in one of the street scenes, maybe with the burnt bus, look out for the false number plate on one of the old cars that has come adrift!
Cheers, Dan.
there were some scenes filmed in belfast the scene where jonjo gets stabbed is the back of a chapel i think or at least it looks like it from the outside...it's directly round the corner from my school and is directly across from a park but not the one used in the film...as for the person who said they were Gank (are you Brendan Basset)...wats your name?...one of the bullies goes to my school and i dunno which....am not sure if the person who said this was on this thread but incase you havn't noticed...all our accents sound whiney...lol...i think the peformances were brilliant they portrayed boys at that time in N. Ireland perfectly...religion was such a huge factor in friendship and i think theway the film makers and the playwrite show that is brilliant...
NICOLE XX
I recognised lots of the locations used, like Barry's and the Mournes...places i'd actually walked in, so i was like.. hey i was there. I think our accents sounded nice but i suppose a little whinney at times. Such a funny movie though. My friend was an extra in the funeral scene.
shareaw i loved it!! it was so funny and gave a meaning to the whole of Northern Ireland!! i just though it was brilliant!!
Can't wait to buy it!
da wee lads were great
Caskey...
shareI have not seen movie yet.......but there must be a scene with old fire-engine in it that was filmed down one of the side-streets on the Ravvy Road, cause it came up past us to the back where they were filming in the big old ex-wholesalers building. fantastic to see. I mentioned this before that they filmed scenes in there.....I should have nicked the two like ship-port doors that was lying round for weeks until collected LOL! never saw any cast, too many wee fancy trailers around.
Hurry up and come out here soon!
I want to all men!
[deleted]
the Icecream parlour where Jonjo and his dad go was in Dromore... we dressed a disused shop to look like it.
The scene when Jonjo smashes the window was in Downpatrick. !
Hi emmapill1.
Any chance you could give us some more details of the locations? I work in Dromore and thought the icecream shop window was like one of the local shops! I hadn't the guts to ask the owner, in case I made a fool of myself!!,the bus stops outside on the slight hill also. I know Downpatrick but can't place the scene you mention. Also do you know which church was used for Jonjo after the fire?
Many thanks, Dan
[deleted]
was the forest the boys ran through after John Jo saves Mickybo in Tollymore Forest Park? The trees looked like ones I saw there. And it would make sense if they were heading south that they would go through that part of the Mourne area.
sharethe photography is absolutely fantastic!!!
bloody perfect :) the soundtrack rocks, and the scene with the title, with mickybo jumping over the black dog, simply blows my brains off.
great job.
Not sure where the person was who complained about whiney accents and that Mickybo had no redeeming traits, but thats the way we sound over in Northern Ireland in certain areas.It isn't a slushy film and it isn't meant to be, the early 70's weren't in Belfast or Northern Ireland in general , but I am 99% sure that people from Northern Ireland will laugh at this and recognise places, things, attitudes they know only too well.
In short this is a great film and as an earlier poster said I am so glad this wasnt farmed out to some big American studio who would have ruined the whole context of the film which stuck reasonably closely to the original play
Exactly, people in Northern Ireland talk like that. I was an extra in th movie for the scenes that were filmed in Portrush, Barry's, White Rocks etc.
Can't wait to see it on DVD. x
[deleted]
Hi.
According to a UK website the DVD release date is 28th Nov 2005.
Cheers, Dan.
I loved this film....and I was in floods coming out of the cinema!
shareDan, if you are in Northern Ireland, could you just clarify an issue for me. Are you saying that this film is not yet on sale on DVD within Northern Ireland? I thought it was since last month some time.
shareHi oshelley55.
Yes, I've been looking for months. The UK release date is 28th November. Xtravision have it here on exclusive rental since a few weeks ago. No doubt there are some dodgy copies out there also!
BTW I'm in Craigavon area.
Best wishes, Dan.
>>Xtravision have it here on exclusive rental since a few weeks ago.<<
Ah, I see. Thanks!
This Xtravision rental release must have been what I was referring to. I'd talked to people in Ireland (both jurisdictions) who had said they'd just seen the movie on DVD, and they don't seem the 'illegal downloading' sort. I figured it had to have been released there in some way. I guess I assumed it was fully released for sale, but they must have rented it.
yeah, Xtra-Vision had it first....and I still have not seen it, will this week.
then I think its next month other videos stores like Video-City etc, rent it out.
of course XtraVision had a couple of weeks of all new releases a pound for one night rental............guess who never took advantage of that, LOL!
cannie waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait.
I want to all men!
Hey, I live in Belfast and i think the bridge that was used to separate the two boys is the brige down in Tate's avenue sure. And I also thought they mentioned the Holy Lands, but I'm not sure.
shareHi Sweadle.
Yes indeed the bridge filmed is Tates Avenue. I don't remember a mention of the Holy Lands but in the closing sequence the envelope from Jonjo in Austrailia is addressed to Mickybo in a bar on the Ormeau Rd, and I think the original idea of the play was based on the Ormeau bridge which is in real life the dividing line between 2 communities of different religion.
Good luck, Dan
I may be exposing a degree of ignorance of Belfast here. But isn't the Holy Lands the series of streets that have 'Holy Lands'/Middle East names? Palestine Street, for example?
Mickybo says he lives on Palestine Street.
Aye you're dead right, I never clicked on!! Palestine St is part of the Holy Lands off the Ormeau Rd, and Mickybo does live there.
Cheers, Dan
Whoa, that's a relief; I guess I'm not as ignorant as I feared. :-)
I get the sense the Holy Lands are now a bit of the 'student housing' area. Would Palestine St. have been predominately Catholic in the 70s?
Sorry, that would be before my time, I've only lived here 11 years. The Holy Lands are now mainly student housing, with many problems you may have heard about in the news.
If you are the poster that was involved in the location filming, Dromore, Downpatrick, etc, could you give me some more info please... Where in Downpatrick was the phone box scene? & Which church was used for Jonjo after the fire?
Cheers, Dan.
i live beside the holy lands(i liv on the ormo rd) and run about up there,its a student residence but its very very dangerous,a paedophile hole with all sorts runin around up there
and since its on our side of the road its obviously catholic
The ormeau bridge isn't really a dividing line, upper ormeau though it may not seem like it is predmonatly catholic (thats where I live).
shareJust wanted to say that I saw this film the other night (didn't think it would be much cop) and really enjoyed.
It seems to me that, aside from being a little mentally ill, she's pretty normal.
The scenes which showed Micky bo's house where filmed in Belfast, up and around the corner form where I used to live. They knocked those houses down though just after that was filmed.
share[deleted]
definately.
i wish i could get it on dcd here in america.
i might have to get it off amazon or ebay or something.