Love & Rage (2000)

good back-story, and good acting

Don't Believe the Hype

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Why do people always have to interject their ignorant, uninformed, irrational leftist opinions/rantings into their film reviews and comments, even when the film has absolutely no connection to politics?This is highly annoying, especially when the people claim to be somehow more informed or intelligent, despite the lack of any basis.As for the film -- it didn't really make any sense. Disjointed vignettes that don't add up or hold together. An inexplicable, inconclusive, and unsatisfying ending. Hopefully the comments will explain the film somewhat. Not generally not worth watching.

It is said that great art ought to disturb. Well, I found this movie quite disturbing as I did Hitchcock's Psycho and others that reveal the demons within and without. It is Daniel Craig's show all the way. He is becoming the great actor but I'm not sure I'm happy for him. He has the habit of swallowing each movie whole that he is in lately. I have always had a theory of so-called larger than life actors--they are egotistical and ravenous, not unlike Craig's character here. I believe that choice of roles is determined like eye color from birth. Genetically, people are predisposed to choose roles that reveal or employ something basic in their own personality. (No need to mention Mel Gibson--he jumps out at you.)I'm not saying that Craig is a psychopathic sociopath, but that his persona has elements that enable that type to live and breath and be believable. I noticed this in the past with actors like Nicholson, Pacino, Dean et al. There is something really too large in their own personalities that I find disturbing. I also notice they tend to be attracted to similar characters way beyond being character typed. It is interesting that this Lynchehaun was an actor as well. Their genius is in lying to us. Ronald Reagan did it marvellously. The question is, how does one sleep at night knowing these people rule the public's mores, fashions, ideals, etc. Is it any wonder America is under at war with itself? Anyway, enjoy the play, the play's the thing, no? Except, what do we do in a world where playacting is no longer an escape from reality but a deep dive into it? Personally, I miss the halcyon days of my youth when I naively did not know so much about the nature of mankind.

I just added this one the my growing list of "to see" Daniel Craig movies. Craig plays James Lynchehaun an Irish peasant that is awfully sneaky. Greta Scacchi plays Agnes MCDonnell a very rich divorcée who becomes involved with Craig when he becomes the manager of her estate. Unfortunately his dark side is revealed a little too late.While watching it I was pleasantly surprised. Its a fascinating little story. Craig is absolutely sinful, its much different than most of the roles I have seen him in and he goes from accent to accent with great ease. Kudos to Craig. Scacchi does a fantastic job going from tough independent woman to a slave to her feelings. Really nice film. If you have a chance to see it, I recommend you do.

First, a correction. Love and Rage is based not on a novel but on a work of history by James Carney, 'The Playboy and the Yellow Woman'. The anti-hero of the film, Lynchehaun, was the inspiration (in part) for Christy Mahon in 'The Playboy of the Western World' by John Millington Synge and is mentioned in the play as 'the man (who) bit the yellow woman's nostril on the northern shore'. The film was shot in the house on Achill Island, Co Mayo where the real life events took place. Agnes MacDonnell, the character played by Greta Scacchi, continued to live on the island until her death in 1926, wearing a veil and a silver nose. Lynchehaun escaped from prison in Ireland and fled to the United States where, despite the efforts of the British government, the Supreme Court refused to extradite him on the grounds that his attack on Agnes was a political offence. For American, British and, especially, Irish viewers, the film has a lot of contemporary political relevance.