Posted: 9/14/22 at 2:41pm
I loved this movie and really liked it at NYTW and while it was still enjoyable I didn't like the changes.
I miss the characters singing pop songs at the start and the Duran Duran. It was so effective to see the characters using songs from the radio as a soundtrack to their lives and then transitioning to singing their own songs. That idea is still there but I don't think it's deployed as effectively as it originally was. It also meant it really was a slow start until we get to the songs.
I thought the relationship between the brothers was much stronger, clearer and made for a more powerful ending (though I thought the ending was quite wonderful at NYTW). I don't love how the parents and sister characters are now and feel like they don't make much of an impression. I didn't feel that way before.
The lead gentleman is quite charismatic and talented but just doesn't feel believable in the role. He's a heartthrob and the character is not. He no longer looks like the "younger" brother which sort of warps that relationship. I wish they had roughed him up, altered the writing of the character a bit, or cast someone else.
Something that sort of bothered me. Ireland at this time (and to some extent still is) was a deeply racist place. Casting this with actors of color and then not addressing what that would mean for those characters seems like a cheat. This is a show written about a real time and real place and verisimilitude is a part of the show. These actors are terrific and I'm glad they were cast... I just wish the production had done right by the characters. Feels like a half-baked diversity oopsie to me.
.jpg?format=auto&width=365)
