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Music’s role takes backseat
to melodrama

For a film that is ostensibly about how the power of music can ease strained family relations, there's nigh little of it to really engage the audience and get the toes a-tappin'.

"The Boys & Girl from County Clare" Not Rated (contains adult language and brief nudity) Playing 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. May 3 to 5 at the Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Academy of Arts

The original title for veteran British director John Irvin's light comedy didn't have the "girl" in the title when originally released two years ago. But since it's traveled over the pond to U.S. screens (as well as the Pacific, specifically at the Honolulu Academy of Arts theater starting Sunday), it seems distributors wanted to play up the appearance of fetching Andrea Corr, singer with the internationally popular Irish group The Corrs. She turns in an appealing performance in her first lead role as the fiddler caught between separated parents, while her conflicted heart is captured by a smitten lad from Liverpool.

Anne and Teddy, the young would-be lovers, play in opposing bands. She's from the Irish countryside, he's from the hard-scrabble and Beatles-crazy town. The ceili bands are lead by estranged brothers Jimmy and John Joe, played by Colm Meaney and Bernard Hill. Both well-schooled actors do well by their roles, especially the lower-keyed Hill, better known as King Theoden of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

John Joe's champion band and Jimmy's upstart, business-like Liverpudlians are competing for the All-Ireland Traditional Music Competition trophy sometime in the early 1970s -- which is not quite true to its title, since bands from abroad are also in the contest (and mostly to provide an added comic counterpoint to the proceedings).

But except for brief scenes both in the pub and in the contest hall, the glorious music takes a back seat to all the melodrama that occupies the film's 90 minutes. Who will Anne finally side with -- the gruff Jimmy or her long-suffering mother Maizie? Will Maizie finally forgive Jimmy for abandoning her for a "better life" in England? Will Jimmy and John Joe resolve their differences? And how does their brother Padjo, away on a South African religious mission, figure into all of this?

Irvin does a yeoman job of juggling the dramatic and comedic scenes, but "County Clare" is less than the sum of its parts. I suspect this film played better on its home turf, but with the exception of some lovely and luring exterior shots of Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man (where it was shot), what you're left with is a merely pleasant and inoffensive bit of diversion.

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Academy films

If you missed "Schultze Gets the Blues" at the past Hawaii International Film Festival, don't dispair. The Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts is showing the film next month in addition to the films listed below. Enjoy!

» "The Boys & Girl from County Clare" (Ireland/UK, Not Rated): Set around the late 1960s-early '70s, the story involves a pair of rival brothers reuniting for the All-Ireland Traditional Music Competition (see review). Preceded by short "The Making of the Karaoke Video." Playing 1, 4 and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow; 7:30 p.m. Monday; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. May 3 to 5.

» "Imaginary Heroes" (USA, rated R): Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels and Emile Hirsch, this film looks at one long year in the lives of an ostensibly typical, upper-middle-class suburban family. It's a tale of a family of crisis following a sobering tragedy, told with wit, warmth and a sardonic spin. Playing 1 p.m. May 7, 10, 11 and 12; 4 p.m. May 7 and 8; and 7:30 p.m. May 7 to 12.

» "The Sea Inside" (Spain, rated PG): The return engagement of Alejandro Amenabar's Oscar and Golden Globe winner. Based on the true story of quadraplegic Ramon Sampedro (Javier Bardem), who fought a 30-year campaign to win the fight to end his life with dignity. Preceded by short "The Red Hibiscus." Playing 1 p.m. May 15, 17, 18 and 19; 4 p.m. May 15; and 7:30 p.m. May 15 to 19.

» "Schultze Gets the Blues" (Germany, rated PG): An evocative deadpan parable about the redemptive power of true passion, no matter how late it comes in life. A polka accordion player finds a newfound fascination in Louisiana zydeco, which he goes in search of in the southwest and southern U.S. Playing 1 p.m. May 22, 24, 25 and 26; 4 p.m. May 22; and 7:30 p.m. May 22, 24 and 25.

» The 17th Annual Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, sponsored by the Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Cultural Foundation. For information, go online at www.HGLCF.com or call 381-1952. Playing May 26 to 29.

» "The Hero (O Heroi)" (Angola/Portugal/France, not rated): 2005 Sundance Film Festival winner and widely celebrated as the film that gave birth to Angolan cinema. The many years of war in that country have left many people destitute.

The titular Hero charts four characters searching to fill their own spaces of longing. Playing 1 and 7:30 p.m. May 31.