Interview: Myles Connell

Victor Kelly (Christopher Walken) is an old topnotch safe-cracker turned mechanic who barely manages to make both ends meet for his family living in Sunnyside. The sudden arrival of a mysterious Irish cousin into his life soon pushes him back into the slippery robbery track …

Myles Connell's partly autobiographical film (as far as Irish origins are concerned) is an elegant study of characters and social classes rather than just another routine ex-convict story. Christopher Walken delivers a charismatic performance as this stoic ex-convict forced to forget his passion for safe-cracking in order to sustain his multi-generational family, between his disaffected aunt and cute daughter (Vera Farmiga in a somewhat under-developed role). Cindy Lauper's similarly interiorized performance makes her an ideal match for Christopher Walken and proves her worth as an actress in her first big dramatic role.

About the director

Like Michael in his film, Myles Connell was born in Dublin and dreamed about going to the US. Arriving in NY as a teenager, he moved into an immigrant neighborhood before studing filmmaking at New York University's Tish School of the Arts. His first short In Uncle Roberts's Footsteps won wide acclaim at Sundance and numerous other festivals around the world.

The Opportunists is his first feature and was made possible under the wing of the Sundance Film Makers Lab in 1995. Myles Connell, 35, also made a television documentary entitled Homicide : Life on the Streets, which was applauded by the critics, and more recently finished the co-screenplay for Atlantic City, a 6-part series for BBC about an Irish immigrant who returns to his native Donegal.

Yannis Polinnaci