Tag: Jim Sheridan
Brothers
by admin on Jul.14, 2009, under Drama, War
- Directors: Jim Sheridan
- Producers: Michael de Luca, Zach Schiff Abrams, Joni Sighvatsson, Tucker Tooley, Ryan Kavanaugh
- Writers: Screenplay, David Benioff
- Genres: Drama, War
- Actors: Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman
When a decorated Marine goes missing overseas, his black-sheep younger brother cares for his wife and children at home—with consequences that will shake the foundation of the entire family. BROTHERS tells the powerful story of two siblings, Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) and younger brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal), who are polar opposites. A Marine about to embark on his fourth tour of duty, Sam is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, the aptly named Grace (Natalie Portman), with whom he has two young daughters (Bailee Madison, Taylor Grace Geare). Tommy, his charismatic younger brother, is a drifter just out of jail who’s always gotten by on wit and charm. He slides easily into his role as family provocateur on his first night out of prison, at Sam’s farewell dinner with their parents, Elsie (Mare Winningham) and Hank Cahill (Sam Shepard), a retired Marine.
In the Name of the Father
by admin on Apr.15, 2009, under Biography, Drama
- Directors: Jim Sheridan
- Producers: Jim Sheridan, Gabriel Byrne
- Writers: Jim Sheridan, Terry George
- Genres: Biography, Drama
- Actors: Daniel Day Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson
Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his friend Paul Hill (John Lynch), fed up with life in IRA-era Belfast, move to London and join the hippie scene. They hook up with a bunch of spaced-out hippies squatting in a derelict flat. There they meet Carole Richardson and Paddy Armstrong. Hanging out in a London park after a fight with their flatmates, Hill and Conlon meet a homeless man named Charlie Burke in a park, who claims the bench they are sitting on belongs to him. While the two talk to Burke on the park bench, an explosion is heard. Later that night Conlon steals money from the apartment of a prostitute who drops her keys on the sidewalk outside her house. A fellow squatter, jealous of Conlon’s advances to a female in the group, drops a hint to the police that Gerry and Paul, being Irish, may be involved in the bombing, and they are arrested.
Britain’s newly-passed anti-terror laws enable the police to hold suspects for 7 days without charge. During this time, Gerry and Paul are subjected to torture until they confess. The four principal defendants (Hill, Conlon, Armstrong and Richardson) are sentenced to 14-30 years in jail. From their prison cell, Gerry and his father Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), who is sentenced along with him as part of the Maguire Seven, try to appeal. Giuseppe’s health continues to worsen while in prison. In the meantime, the police arrest IRA member Joe McAndrew (Don Baker) who admits to the Guildford bombing. The police ignore his confession and the Guildford Four remain in prison.
Meanwhile, barrister Gareth Peirce (Emma Thompson) begins to investigate the case in the police archives, after receiving Giuseppe’s letters of appeal for assistance, believing that Gerry, his father, and Gerry’s friends are not guilty. Fortuitously, on a day the original archives clerk is sick, she asks for the file of Conlon. The replacement clerk asks “Which Conlon? Giuseppe or Gerard?” Realising the situation, after only having had access to Giuseppe’s file, she requests Gerry Conlon’s file. The Gerry Conlon file contains statements and photographs clipped together with a note that says “not to be shown to the defence”. This material provides the accused with a solid alibi and in 1989 the court is forced to release all four (Giuseppe had died in prison nine years prior). On leaving the courthouse, Gerry states that he will continue to fight injustice “in the name of his father.”