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Angela's Ashes on DVD (1999)
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Radio Times
Frank McCourt's bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir is brought vividly to the screen by Alan Parker with a good cast and top-of-the-line production values. The result is a faithful, sometimes pedestrian movie that feels considerably longer than its 139-minute running time, perhaps due to the unending squalor. Parker's decision to film the terrible poverty of the McCourt family — first in America, then in Ireland — with artistic, anaesthetising cinematography is a touch misguided, and Robert Carlyle as Frank's alcoholic dad has much less to do than Emily Watson. But the three boys playing Frank at various ages are all good, and McCourt's early memories of school and church provide some humorous respite, even if, at times, it's hard not to feel manipulated by the film's endless exhibition of misery and despair.
Based on a best-selling memoir, this puts a Hollywood gloss on the rain-soaked poverty it depicts which, coupled with miscasting of the leading role, mutes its impact; it sputters only sporadically to life. Time Out Parker's film of Frank McCourt's bestseller charts a Limerick childhood tainted by poverty, unemployment, alcoholism,... Read more on www.timeout.com Members ReviewsReviews Voted Most HelpfulMost Recent Reviews |
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