An Irish Angel

The acclaimed dramedy "An Irish Angel" is ostensibly a tried but true tale of the misfit high school lass who longs to ditch her dreary existence, skip this one-horse hamlet and make it in the big city, except shes been knocked up.

But as smartly written and directed by Danny Patrick the sum of these singularly familiar parts combine to take us to a place well beyond where we typically go with such fare. Taking the helm Patrick weaves an uncommonly engaging story. Deftly mixing healthy hits of both laughter and tears, he guides us on a journey every bit as eccentric as it is stirring.

Not every movie has to have an enduring message. Still, "An Irish Angel" struck me with this one. The more we may try to distance ourselves from that which has come to define us, the more we are drawn ever nearer to it.

And to appreciate the hell out of it.

An Irish Angel is a lot like the time in which it takes place. The film has a lot of note to say, but you get the sense that it has a good time just being there. By 2017, The Good Friday Agreement was in the rear-view mirror, as were much of the struggles of the previous decades. It was almost like people were sick and tired of caring about trauma.

Our film shows us the trials and tribulations of Aine just looking to navigate the world of a teenage girl. There are plenty of familiar faces in this cast with Jaime Winstone and Julian Glover, but nobody really outshines the leads Niamh James and Todd Bell. The film is paced in a manner that lets us know about the characters. The most memorable scenes in the film are more painful than funny with Aine's Nightmares.

Danny Patrick's films the action is from a completely neutral vantage point. There is nothing at all pretentious or preachy about any of the subject matter. The film ramps up the humor of other Teen fare, but shadows that with the tragic desperation that modern teenagers face, this film is worth taking a look at.

I kind of like films like 'An Irish Angel'. Coming of age, teenage dramas where the characters have infinite charm and deal with things we all remember fondly (or not so) from our adolescence. Even though I was never a rebellious teenage girl at a catholic school in Portrush, Northern Ireland, I still found myself relating to this quirky movie.

An Irish Angel captures the essence of what it's like to be a teenager. And while Niamh James 'Aine' and Amanda Doherty 'Margaret' really shine, each cast member adds something to the film, especially the seasoned Jaime Winstone 'Ellie' who hasn't been on this kind of form since her debut in Kidulthood.

I would describe 'An Irish Angel' as a solid, well made, well acted film with wonderful performances from the cast, there's a lot to love about An Irish Angel.

I found An Irish Angel to be a sweet, charming coming-of-age film. It is a serious film, but with flashes of humor. Danny Patrick wrote and directed the film which seemed to be partly autobiographical in that he grew up in Ireland about the same time as her character. The film is a meditation on what it means to be from some place and what that idea of home means in shaping who you become.

Aine 'Niamh James' has a love-hate relationship with her town, her family and her place in both. It is also very much a story of young girl struggling with her own and her mother's expectations for herself. The script is really charming with the best scenes being those of Aine and her mother played by 'Amanda Doherty'.

Aine is struggling with her secret pregnancy, family, friendship, religion all at the same time. Like all of us, she is trying to find her place in the world. Niamh James is excellent as Ained as is Amanda Doherty in the role of her haggard struggling mother trying to hold her family together through difficult times. Recommended to those who like drama, particularly coming-of-age films.

This engaging dramatic-comedy from Danny Patrick is an absolute gem and one of the best independent films that has come out for a while. There are a number of divergent plot lines intricately woven, which culminate together in a highly climactic way, but the film still manages to maintain its charm and simplicity throughout. An Irish Angel works on a number of different levels, but foremost as an entertaining rites-of-passage teen movie, with numerous sophisticated elements that raise the movie well above its situated genre - especially the very cleverly conceived dream sequences that lend the movie an interesting art house feel.

The main story thread follows teenager Aine, expertly played by newcomer Niamh James, who is struggling to come to terms with what exactly she is going to do about her unplanned pregnancy - which resulted from an unwise short-term fling with her school's "King of Cool" (who happens to be the boyfriend of her best friend, Corinna). She finds that the people in her life, including those she turns to for help, have confusingly different perspectives on what she should do, which only adds to her anxiety; but an encounter with an old priest, Fr Reital (warmly played by veteran English actor Julian Glover) triggers her entrance into a spiritual dreamscape where she explores her life dilemmas with a mysterious Christ-like figure - who just happens to look uncannily like her grumpy school caretaker, who everyone calls "The Strap" (brilliantly played by Shane Robinson). It's an example of how Patrick mixes kitchen sink drama with off-the-wall artistic vision in a combination which always intrigues.

What really steals the show, however, is the exuberant performance of another young newcomer, Todd Bell, as Aine's school-friend and sidekick, Leo - a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, who aspires to be a famous actor. He gains the lead role as "Pulcinella" in the school play of the same name, directed by the school's liberal drama teacher, Ellie (Jamie Winstone - who seems made the part), and "Pulcinella" provides the movie with a number of apt thematic tropes as we go on. As the various plotlines develop, we follow the school rehearsals of the play, which constitutes an amusing parody of an Elizabethan drama (based on a 18th century Italian ballet), whose pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue seems to have been expressly created for the purpose by Patrick. Much of the comedy comes from Leo's wide-eyed aspirations for fame, and to make it with the play's leading lady (Aine's good-looking best-friend Corinna), which conflicts with the gritty reality of his life - especially as he becomes embroiled in the crazy schemes of an incompetent band of local wannabe gangsters, led by his brother Padraig (the gloriously tattooed Baz Back). This latter plotline ultimately leads to high drama, tragedy and pathos, and is important to the life-affirming conclusion to the movie.

Altogether this is a funny, dramatic, and, at times, emotively profound movie, that punches far above its weight and is well worth taking a chance on.