Irish shorts – not a pile of pants
Children's Express reviewers report from Cinemagic, the World Screen Festival for Young People in Belfast.
| It was sick and twisted but it had a good plot. |
Paddy, a short cartoon directed by Cashel Horgan was very funny even though many of the jokes were stereotypical.
"I laughed a lot. The film looked at Paddy's life. He was a farmer, who had just inherited some money. He drank loads of Guinness and went around riding on a donkey," said Conor, Magowan Greene, 11. "I agree while it was a little stereotypical of Irish people, it was very funny and a little bizarre at times. Some of the funniest bits are the details in the background. I would definitely recommend this film," said Benen Dillon, 11. "It was a little strange; a flying cow with no words throughout the entire cartoon, but was really entertaining," Myles, 11 said.
The Dentist's Daughter directed by Jacqueline O'Neill was in Irish. It focused on a young man who recently moved to a new town, which was controlled by a few key people such as the dentist, who also owns the shop owner and acts as politician. The newbie falls for the dentist's daughter and gets much more than he bargains for.
"It was sick and twisted but it had a good plot," said Benen. "There were some gory scenes, like the very end where the dentist can be seen lying on the ground surrounded by blood using his own drill on himself," Lucas, 11. "I enjoyed this partly because of the twist at the end of the story but mainly I liked it because it was so exciting. You always wanted to see want was going happen next," Lucas said.
Odd Sock directed by Collette Cullen is a funny tale with a great twist. The opening scene leads you to think the young boy wearing the pink tee shirt, who is visiting porn shops and stripping off in front of other boys is going to announce to his mum that he is gay. His mum wants to talk to him. The audience is geared up for the coming out of the closet conversation and when they see the young boy with a tee-shirt slogan saying, "I am proud of my lesbian mum."
"The story-line was hard to catch, you were not really sure of what was going on but I enjoyed it because it captured real life," said Myles. However, Lucas felt "I was distracted during this film because it took too long to get into."
I was the Cigarette Girl directed by Peter Kavanagh focused on the theme of unrequited love. The story-line flows and ebbs and the girl ends up without the man and becoming hooked on nicotine.
Young reporters did not enjoy this movie and said, "it was not that realistic, it was set in Belfast and did not have much humour."
All agreed watching Irish short films was a Sunday evening well spent and great fun but were sad to see the cinema so empty and felt the event could have been better publicised.
About the team
This article was produced by Conor Magowan Greene, Myles McCormick, and Benen Dillon, all 11. It was published on the Cinemagic website.
