The movie takes place in early autumn of 1975 in Brooklyn where two brothers Bryan Leary (Nick Thurston) and his older brother Danny (Geoff Wigdor) spend their days killing time and pulling off small time crimes. It is obvious from the beginning of the movie that Bryan wants nothing to do with the criminal side of life, even though its a fate the Leary brothers seem to be destined for. Trapped within the walls of Brooklyn and the home of an abusive, alcoholic father Paddy (Stephen Lang) and their tired, weary mother (Karen Allen), the brothers can't imagine that there's a life outside of the one they're stuck in. Bryan knows that he isn't interested in the normal 9 to 5 Civil Service jobs that his group of friends are all dying to get. His friends have some hilarious exchanges about dying to get "benes" (benefits) and vacation time, retirement and a steady gig serving their community. The only thing Bryan can seem to find solace in is art. He is a secretly, talented painter. He spends his nights in the basement storage room of the deli below their apartment with his headphones on to drown out the beating his abusive father is giving his dutiful mother right upstairs as he draws.
Bryan doesn't share his artistic talents with anyone. His mother doesn't even know that he has them. Danny does, but he looks at it as a pansy way to pass the time. One night, while out at the bar, Bryan runs into Shauna Friel (Leslie Murphy) an old high school crush. In order to one up his college buddy, Todd (Zachary Booth) who swoops in to put the moves on Shauna, he comes up with a creative way to get Shauna's attention. Which I won't ruin for you, because its a lovely scene and sets in motion a wonderful little dance of romance between Bryan and Shauna. I will say that I was impressed with the way that Bryan left the scene, as it was quite unexpected, but definitely peaked all of the ladies in the theatres interest as well as Shauna's. You'll understand what I mean when you see it.
It's Bryan's relationship with Shauna that ignites his dreams and inspires him to think beyond the walls of Brooklyn. But it will be his relationship with his brother that tests his loyalty to his family and how far he is willing to go to rescue Danny. The brothers have spent their whole lives taking care of one another and looking out for each other, even if it does explode into fist fights every now and then. They are still brothers and there's nothing they won't do for one another. I won't tell you anymore of the plot, wanting you to be able to go on the ride that I and every person in the theatre seemed to go on!
It's the kind of story that you feel and know will touch a lot of people. It's a movie reminiscent of "The Town" and while Boston has become the typical back drop for these movies, Brooklyn steps forward as its equally interesting cousin. The city is the perfect setting to tell this story. The cinematography of Seamus Tierney is stunning and so perfectly executed. The script is clever and witty at times, full of hope and love at other times and full of emotion and heartbreaking circumstance at others. The story is a familiar one, but still managed to surprise me and catch me off guard!
The acting is impeccable, a tour de force of artists, that as a fellow actor, I will one day be honored if I can come even remotely close to the commitment and layered performances that every single one of them turned in. Russell Boast, the casting director clearly took his time to find not only talented, real, actors, but ones who would gel together and could realistically be friends, family and lovers in real life. Stephen Lang's performance of the father is terrifying and heartbreaking as you realize that this is a man who desperately loves his family, but who is just trapped within alcoholism and repeating the patterns of his upbringing. Karen Allen turns in one of the best performances of her life. As the mother, Margaret she fully inhabits this woman with every breath and movement, struggling to keep her sons safe, yet remaining unflinchingly devoted to her husband.
Nick Thurston as Bryan Leary is flawless, a newcomer to Hollywood, he will have a long career if he continues to turn in simple, connected, yet vulnerable performances like this one. His scenes with Leslie Murphy, who is flawless as well as love interest Shauna, are some of the best of the movie. The two share a chemistry on screen that in my personal opinion rivals that of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, which I regard as some of the best on screen chemistry that I've ever seen. You desperately want Shauna and Bryan to save one another, fall in love and escape this dreary dark life. Turning in a layered performance, Leslie, lets Bryan and the audience into her heart and she wins him and the entire theatre over by her second or third scene in the movie. Her character easily could have been a "pollyanna" of sorts, but John Gray shines again, having written a script that has multi-layered characters throughout the whole thing, not just within the main characters, but down to the smaller roles. My favorite example of this is the revelation that Shauna shares about herself with Bryan at the end of the movie, where you finally understand her. Miss Murphy can look forward to a shining career in the acting world!
Geoff Wigdor as older brother Danny turns in an equally solid performance full of emotion, strength and vulnerability. He kept reminding me of a young Ben Affleck, even looking and sounding like him at times, though he turns in a full, well rounded performance that we didn't see out of Mr Affleck until he matured into his career a bit. Geoff brought life to Danny and you understood every decision he made even as your heart was screaming for him to make a different choice.
The direction was wonderful and again, the script was well rounded, fun, raw, tough, emotional, and even contained a few fun "sign of the times" jokes like, "What kind of career are you going to have in computers?" Ha.
Producers Paul Bernard and James Scura, your investment in this movie is also evident in every part of it, and after meeting you Paul, I know that had you not been involved that this would be an entirely different movie. I can only imagine that your producing partner would be cut from the same cloth.
Please, do yourself and everyone involved with this project a favor and go see, "WHITE IRISH DRINKERS" when it comes to a theatre near you. Help this little movie that could, can and probably will reach the highest level of success that it can. I would even go so far as to say that this film and the actors involved could easily win some awards in this coming awards season! I desperately hope it hangs on for that long and that word of mouth makes this movie a blockbuster success!
Movies like this are the reason I became an actor. They are the reason that I want to make films. When the lights came up after the movie and we all wiped away our tears, I left the theatre thinking "This is the kind of movie I want to make."
This is a project of heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears . . . but you can tell it was worth every moment.
www.whiteirishdrinkersthemovie.com
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