Angela's Ashes (1999)

Please don't spend money on this.

Memorable, crazy movie

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Better Late Then Never

I read Frank McCourt's account of his childhood in Ireland several years ago. The book Angela's Ashes has been on the bestseller list for quite some time now, and I have been anxiously awaiting the film adaptation. Director Alan Parker has given us a film that faithfully reconstructs the images recounted in McCourt's masterpieces. While the film is faithful and technically quite good, somewhere in the process the filmmakers lost McCourt's voice and his distinctly Irish humor along the way.For those who have not read the book, Angela's Ashes is about Frank McCourt's coming of age in America and in Ireland. When the book opens, the McCourt family is living in America, having come to the land of opportunity to escape the wretched poverty of rural Ireland. Unfortunately, they have arrived in the land of opportunity in the midst of the great depression and opportunities are scarce. After a newborn dies, the family decides to head back to Ireland, but fortunes her are hardly better, and the McCourt patriarch spends what little money they can get drowning his sorrows. The father (capably portrayed by Robert Carlyle of The Full Monty) reminds me a bit of the tippler in The Little Prince. When the little prince asks the tippler why he drinks, the tippler replies, "to forget". Not satisfied with this answer, the little prince persists in his inquiry, "to forget what?" The tippler replies, "to forget that I drink."Angela is Frank McCourt's mother, the woman who loses three children to "the consumption", tries to put up with her alcoholic husband, and is permanently despondent over the debilitating poverty of her family. Emily Watson, the gifted actress who has been nominated for Oscars for performances in Hillary and Jackie and Breaking the Waves, plays Angela.While I miss some of authenticity and poetry of McCourt's writing, this is still a film worth seeing. If you have read the book, you may be mildly disappointed in the film adaptation. If you have not had the privilege of reading the book, you should take the opportunity to see the film. This is one of those great stories about the resilient nature of the human spirit, triumph out of tragedy, hope in the midst of suffering. John William's score has been nominated for an Oscar, and the music does its job by creating synergistic movement with the visuals. I wish the film flowed a bit better in terms of pacing, and I wish it had more of McCourt's poetic imagery. In the final analysis, the important question is, is my life enriched by having seen it? 'Tis.

This film is truly the autobiographic story of author Frank McCourt and the family of Limerick, Ireland. It does not pull any punches about growing up poor in a family that wants for everything and gets a lot of misery. The portraits of the family and the environment are stark and real.Told through the eyes of Frankie McCourt, there are many events that come through in vivid reality. The backbone of a fine novel shows up here. Everything from innocence of child hood to coming of age are told with a labor of misery, love and coming of age all taken into account. There is so much that it can overwhelm the viewer, yet it does seem to all come together in a very human way.You do not have to read the book to know this all has a gong of human beings and the fragile human condition all written into a long tale. The observations of young Frankie growing up throughout and of the adults in his life are something special.Frankie loves his father, though dad does only very basic human things to earn that love. He loves his mother, though he resents what she has to do to keep the family whole because of dad. He loses 2 brothers at young ages, and the movie gives a loving portrait of both. This story goes through a magnificent circle of life with much more reality than any Disney cartoon could ever portray. Magnificent music punctuates a cold wet miserable family life which only love and determination could get one to live through.

"Angela's Ashes" is an exhilarating autobiography. The film is from 1999 and is written by Laura Jones. The book is by Frank McCourt. It is very dramatic and follows the life of Frank McCourt from his boyhood in Brooklyn in 1935 to his return to Ireland and the loss of his three younger siblings due to his family's poverty. The cast includes Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Claran Owens, Michael Legge, Ronnie Masterson, Pauline McLynn, Liam Carney, Eanna MacLiam, Andrew Bennett, Shane Murray-Corcoran, Devon Murray, Peter Halpin, Aaron Geraghty, Sean Carney Daly, Oisin Camey Daly, Shane Smith, Tim O'Brien, Blaithnaid Howe, Klara O;Leary, Caroline O'Sullivan and Ryan Fielding. It is a long picture, but well performed and I gave it 8 stars. Dale Haufrect

Having seen this film I wanted someone to talk to about it but everyone I uncovered who knew anything about had read - and been charmed by - the book. Well, I hadn't and haven't read it and after seeing this indelible, if meandering film I don't feel the need to.Alan Parker goes for a very straight literary transposition in as much as the film is episodic. It's as if you're watching the chapters. The images are often funny or shocking and rarely simply padding the screen between events. Even the reductively bare but touching sequences as Malachy walks his son Frank across the countryside chatting away are marinated in a peculiarly Irish dye.Robert Carlyle is good as the good-for-nothing Malachy who has clearly acquired a romantic penumbra in his son's memory. Better is the excellent Emily Watson who plays Angela's despair close to the surface. I liked Joe Breen's Frank above all - inevitable a reactive performance but well coached by Parker and commendably delivered. 6/10