Following his acclaimed Small Faces, Scottish director Gillies Mackinnon returns to Ireland - where he shot his 1992 film, The Playboys - for a rough, affectionate, but decidedly unsentimental look at the country's outsiders - the 'travellers'.
Wexford writer Billy Roche's story focuses on the travails of Trojan Eddie (Stephen Rea), a 'townie' who works for the leader of the local travellers, the ruthless John Power (Richard Harris), selling goods out of the back of a Trojan van. "It's a brilliant script," says Mackinnon. "Billy isn't writing what he thinks people want to buy or see: he's just doing what interests him."
"I was adamant that when I started writing this, it would be cinema, and that's what it is," says Roche. "Cinema should be big and strong. There's no point in making a film about somebody going to the shops to buy half-a-dozen eggs." Nick Roddick
Prod co: Initial Films/Channel Four Films, in association with Irish Screen and The Irish Film Board
Prod: Emma Burge
Dir: Gillies Mackinnon
Scr: Billy Roche
Ph: John de Borman
Ed: Scott Thomas
Cast: Stephen Rea, Richard Harris, Stuart Townsend, Aislin McGuckin
Int sales: Film Four International
Running time: 105 mins
Screenings: Tuesday 12 November, 13.15 and 18.15, Odeon West End 1
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