White Irish Drinkers

By John Leavengood

MY CALL:  A sincere, cathartic, jagged little pill that  offers a certain something; a form of closure akin to This Boy’s Life or Good Will  Hunting.  [A]  IF YOU LIKE THIS, WATCH:  This  Boy’s Life, Good Will Hunting.  TRAILER:  This is a little misleading, but here you are.

Our witty, quippy and sharp-tongued, yet plausibly average star navigates a  palpable mid-70’s Brooklyn.  From an  under-privileged neighborhood, Brian’s social group fails to understand that  college could be anything but an excuse not to get a job.  Brian is torn between art and the criminal  proclivities of his manipulative and abused older brother, Danny.  He may be from a rough neighborhood, but he’s  a sweet, boyish twenty-or-so with an aw-shucks smile and Elijah Wood’s  innocence.  Hearing the newfound insights  of a friend, Brian begins to dream that college could be his way out of this  world which he undeniably uses to temper his self-worth.

Stephen Lang (Avatar, TV’s Terra Nova) performs excellently as the  callous, abusive father.  Karen Allen  brilliantly plays his overworked wife whose Herculean efforts fail to hold the  family together as she casts a blind eye to her husband’s actions.  Most interactions with the parents are difficult,  but there are some soothingly endearing moments like recurring teasing about  mom’s cooking and nearly forgotten memories of how dad was before he got like this.

Drawing our  attention is Brian’s artwork.  The  director carefully utilized this pathway to steer the plot, educe mood and  engage undertones about Brian’s fragile relationships with the small world he  knew, his crumbling family, and his own self doubt.