An Everlasting Piece (2000)

You won't be disappointed!

Thanks for the memories!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Barry Levinson is a very clever director (and writer). He obviously gathered a lot of information and insight on the pressure-cooker known as Northern Ireland. He delights in the borough's eccentricities and predilections. And, he endows his main characters with appropriate peculiarities. The unfolding of events is true to traditions of the region's humor and the indigenous cast know their character well and eat and breathe the area's history.But, we don't! Nor are we ever brought into it. Therefore the entire exercise seems contrived and self-important. It reminds me of being at a spouse's company party and hearing people reference people and projects that you know and understand nothing about -- yet you do not have the option of leaving the party. It is a series of inside jokes -- but we, the American audiences, are stuck on the outside.

This film was great for exactly what it was: a comedic drama with honest political/cultural commentary.Set during the 1980's in the British-controlled portion of Ireland, "An Everlasting Piece" is about a Catholic and a Protestant barber who set off to win a monopoly as hair-piece salesman in the north of Ireland.The style of comedy was what I would call "very British-like". It had that dry and witty sense of humor that is so terrific if you appreciate that sort of thing (just for the record, I'm usually a fan).As far as the cultural/political commentary goes, an earlier post pointed out that George's family is non-existent in this movie, and that the story revolves around an almost entirely Catholic cast. My response is that to include the Protestant side of the story would have been impossible. To include the loyalist populace (and thus the loyalist paramilitaries, since there would have to be a balancing cinematic force countering the story of the IRA) would have required probably another 3 hours. I think this movie is really about the Catholic-Catholic confrontation. You've an IRA man who says "I want more than to just survive," in an era of unequal rights and opportunities for Irish Catholics, just as it was for the African Americans 2 decades before the film takes place. Then you have a Catholic who believes in "the cause" (ideologically speaking), yet has a Protestant friend who is obviously not concerned with politics or consumed with partisan hatred. The political/cultural issue here is the fact that the ideal the IRA was fighting for in the '80's (at the time, equal rights through union with the Irish Republic)) was legitimate in many respects- yet at what expense? In the end the "film" is a movie- it is heart-warming entertainment that gives the viewer a general sense of one of the overall issues facing Ireland in the '80's, and it gives a lot of chuckles. It'll make you laugh, feel, and even make you think- so it's worth at least the rental price.

A very funny comedy set in Belfast. It's always an challenge to find humor in very serious situations but writer and star does a fine job in combining the two. The plot is clever with a number of nice twists. The acting is good all around. I feel the movie is quite well done and worth seeing - it's one I'd recommend to friends.

I watched this movie with a friend, we both thought it was pretty lame. It starts out slow and slowly winds down to a crawl. I almost fell asleep watching it. The acting was wooden, the plot, ridiculous, the characters, extremely unbelievable. I gave it a 4/10 just because I like Ireland.