Ray Pride

A lot of wind is spent on discussing Ken Loach's politics. Is he dry, is he didactic, is he stuck in a time warp? Why do he and his customary screenwriter Paul Laverty ("My Name Is Joe," "The Navigators") and brilliant cinematographer Barry Ackroyd ("United 93," "Under the Skin") put their politics so bluntly? (Even in a sweet, hopeful, foul-mouthed movie like "Sweet Sixteen.") A Golden Palm winner at Cannes 2006, "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" has peeved much of the deeply conservative (and deeply snotty) right-leaning press in the UK, and good for Loach for standing up to them. (One Brit git said he didn't have to see Loach's film; he didn't "need to read `Mein Kampf' to know what a louse Hitler was.") Set between 1920 and 1922, "Wind" follows a pair of brothers (Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney) who join the Republicans to fight for Irish independence. Words are spoken, violence is enacted, passions are displayed with fine fire. There is heat and there is light and there is lyricism to Loach's late work. There are intricate historical interpretations, and more than a little tell-instead-of-show, but Loach and his compatriots make movies like no others. 127m.

"The Wind That Shakes The Barley" opens Friday at the Music Box.

(2007-04-03)

Also by Ray Pride

Blair Witch Hunt
There are a couple of techniques put to impeccable use in the largely first-person "The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair" which fall outside of traditional boundaries of "documentary," which, of course, is why documentaries fascinate today: the willingness to be frisky, the imperative to be personal and to personalize
(2007-03-27)

Tip of the Week
Producer-director-editor Philip Gröning's "Into Great Silence," a humble 162-minute documentary about a silent order of monks in the French Alps' Grand Chartreuse monastery--shot without crew or lighting--is long, but, as you would expect, meditative
(2007-03-27)

The Mourning After
Earnest research and many conversations resulted in "Reign Over Me," the powerful Adam Sandler-starring drama about a widower unable to forget the loss of his family
(2007-03-20)

Tip of the Week
Perversely inconsequential, the unlikely, knowing anecdote "Colour Me Kubrick" is a delight, with an unlikely John Malkovich impersonating Alan Conway, a dissolute bounder of a low order who gamboled shamelessly about London in the 1990s, pretending to be the elusive Stanley Kubrick
(2007-03-20)

Moving Pictures
(2007-03-13)

Tip of the Week
(2007-03-13)

Tip of the Week
(2007-03-06)

Killer Looks
(2007-03-06)

Young American
(2007-02-27)

Euro Bash
(2007-02-27)

Tip of the Week
(2007-02-27)

Tip of the Week
(2007-02-20)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment