Kings (I) (2007) User Reviews

Elegiac and poignant

[jasongroarke · 8/10 · 15 October 2007]

Kings is a very fine film. It is a haunting, melancholic portrait of lost souls, the people on our streets who once belonged to some place, somewhere in another time, but who have fallen out of touch with the world around them. Director Tom Collins seizes on this feeling of loneliness and misplacement and forces us to confront it, as we immerse ourselves in the lives of Git, Jap, Máirtín, Shay and Joe. The haunting, ghostly memory of Jackie makes us also mourn his passing, as he appears to his friends between sleeping and waking, between day and night.

Indeed the film itself feels caught in time between dusk and dawn, as the characters let the world pass by in the final third of the film, when an ominous, creeping awareness invades on their drunken reverie. The atmosphere is one of a suspended moment – the group of friends toast their lost companion in an eerie, empty back room, whilst muffled noise just creeps in from the bar outside. The Irish language they speak amongst themselves reflects the otherness of their lives, their misplacement in this world. As they leave and come back, it is as if they move from one world to the other, and when they finally go, they could be gone forever.

With excellent performances and a taut script, the evocative cinematography and soundtrack make this an achingly sad and beautiful work that is timeless in it's relevance.

Intense, dark, but brilliant

[s-guyett · 8/10 · 1 October 2007]

This contains the best acting I have seen in an Irish film in many years. It is a reworking of a play, and the adaptation preserves all the intensity and intimacy which is usual within a theatre production. It is a dark, brooding and menacing work which does not belong in the category of light entertainment, but rather, a higher art. If you are prepared to go on the journey, you will find it has rewards. But be warned that there is no compromise here to easy access for English only speakers - it is predominantly in Irish with English subtitles. If you like the theatre, you should find this a real treat. Forget Hollywood, or indeed Fair City, this contains the best ensemble acting by an Irish cast since the best of the Roddy Doyle films.

Kings at Toronto.

[defactofilms-2 · 7/10 · 30 September 2007]

It is possible that the major narrative of the twenty-first century will be that of immigration. With transnational movement becoming ever more common, the distances between us shrink both geographically and socially as every immigrant has a compelling individual story to share. Kings is the fertile ground where six of these stories take root, grow and intertwine. It is the first major bilingual (Irish Gaelic and English) Irish production.

In the seventies, six ambitious and energetic young men – friends and relatives – left Ireland for London with an eye to making their fortunes and eventually returning home in a blaze of glory. Like so many before them, they found work in the construction industry, toiling to build the very cities that often remained cold and unwelcoming to them. When we meet the men, it is nearly thirty years after their arrival, and one of them has died under terrible circumstances.

It is a deeply held tradition that they hold a wake for the passing of their friend, named Jackie. What makes this occasion even more tearful is that the friends haven't followed the path they originally had set out for themselves. They have not enjoyed the same fortunes or even returned to Ireland victoriously as planned. When they finally meet to honour Jackie, drink and sadness make it inevitable that some men will take up the grievances and disappointments of the past, all the while maintaining the illusion that they have a future. In tragic situations like these, nostalgia is particularly far from the cold, hard truth.

In addition to sketching a fine sense of place, director Tom Collins elicits remarkable performances from each member of his strong cast, particularly the great Colm Meaney as Joe, a man who left behind his old Irish life for good, but at a heavy cost. These skillful actors capture all the complex and heart-rending subtleties of the immigrant experience. Through the bonds and misfires of male friendship, Kings sympathetically portrays a circle who never actually leave their homeland in either custom or commitment.

Jane Schoettle

An Irish movie about separation and loss.

[fransafehome · 1 October 2007]

Kings plunges its viewers into the harsh reality of five Irish immigrant's lives in London. The men are separated not only geographically, but psychologically, from their homeland. They yearn to return, but are consumed with a sense of their own failure and fear rejection from loved ones at home. Instead they immerse themselves in alcohol and unfulfilled dreams. The acting is superb; the characters true-to-life; the theme universal. The use of Gaelic is a dramatic tool that serves to emphasize their alienation again in their adopted town of Kilburn. It is a story of sadness and regret and how individuals deal with pain. Tom Collins's movie challenges the audience to question their own relationships with fellow human beings, especially those from whom they are estranged, and especially those who were forced to leave these shores. It challenges us to question our views on this lost generation and to look at an era in our history that allowed such mass immigration. Hopefully, Kings will open up a national debate on how a Government could have failed its subjects and allowed a land to be bled of its inhabitants; hopefully,it will inspire us to welcome them home with open arms; hopefully it will encourage the present Government to continue to provide the means to do so. Go and see Kings. You will not be disappointed.

Realistic Irish film about a sensitive subject

[hanrahanpm · 7/10 · 25 July 2008]

Saw this at the Stony Brook Film Festival last night and was amazed to find (a) a nearly full house and (b) the audience got it. As an Irishman who lived in London in the 1960's I am well aware of the characters and their sad, difficult lives. (The years were a bit off as the film claimed they emigrated in 1977 - more like 10 years earlier). I had also seen the play it was based on "The Kings of the Kilburn High Road" a few years back. The play, if I recall correctly, is set entirely in the back room of the bar. The acting is first rate and while most of the dialogue is in Irish, with subtitles, it really works. This was a strange experience, to see a film about Irishmen and needing subtitles to understand everything being said. Not surprisingly, Colm Meaney lends heft to the film and the part of Joe. He always does. Well worth seeing although I wonder who the audience is for such a film? There are thousands of Irishmen still in England who lived lives like these poor unfortunates.

a sad, gorgeous film

[doreen2cv · 10/10 · 30 September 2007]

A beautifully-made film, "Kings" is one of the best movies of this year. The hand-held camera gives it an intimacy too often absent in close-up cinematic portraiture, and allows the viewer a real look at the shocking sadness of the lives of its subjects. Of a group of five friends who leave the west of Ireland in their teens in the late 1970s, Jackie is the first to die. Herein begins a long journey into oblivion for his four friends, all of them living lives very different from what was envisaged at the start of their English odyssey. What "Kings" does, more than anything, is take a long look at the generations of lost Irish in London, those who left Ireland on the boat to work on the building sites and to clean houses, and the sad waste of the loss of potential to the devils of booze. The films stays away from nostaglia or sentiment, and in doing so it creates for the viewer a real picture of how it was for all the thousands of immigrants, most of whom never saw home again.

A shot in the arm for the Irish film industry

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 1 December 2007]

The future of home-grown Irish cinema seems safely in the bag for the time being. We have just had John Carney's "Once" which was a breath of fresh air as well as being a critical and commercial smash. Now we have Derry's own Tom Collins' superb screen version of the play "The Kings of Kilburn High Road" and it may turn out to be the best film yet about the Irish diaspora. It's a stunner and could see Ireland short-listed in the Best Foreign Film category at this year's Oscars.

The plot is simple and there is nothing new in it. Five friends, all immigrants from Ireland's Conemara, gather for the wake of a sixth killed by a train in the London Underground. During a long night's drinking, regrets and recriminations rise to the surface together with ghosts from their pasts. There is a touch of Eugene O'Neill here certainly, (Irishness and alcohol figured largely in his work), but as the night wears on and drunkenness breaks down the men's bravado, the film broadens out into a more universal study of machismo. Although a painfully accurate record of both the Irish way of death and drinking these could be any group of old friends in any bar anywhere in the world.

The bar-room setting of the film's second half exposes its theatrical origins but Collins opens it out superbly and the flashbacks to earlier days never seem intrusive. He keeps it briskly cinematic throughout and the performances of the whole cast can't be faulted. This is a superb ensemble piece and at a festival the performance of the five principals, (and of Peadar O'Taraigh as the dead man's father), would be worthy of a joint best actor award. However, I am inclined to single out Brendan Conroy as Git. Git may seem at first the weakest of the group but in Conroy's extraordinary performance he proves himself the strongest. Like the film itself, Conroy deserves the highest of praise.

Below average

[filmisreal · 4/10 · 21 December 2007]

So I was expecting more than I got. Workman like but not the best of Irish cinema.

I would agree that the best performance was by 'Git' by a long chalk. In the roles Jap and Joe I wonder how it would have played with actors swapped.

I had not been aware it was an adapted play but it was painfully obvious as the film crept on.

I was most unimpressed with the camera jittery work in the back bar room scene. I can't believe the director etc. don't suffer in extremis each time they see it. That is not is say the rest of the camera work was bad it was fine.

Surely only the Irish could have such nice clean alcoholics. Jap gingerly sprawling in an alleyway whilst remarkably sober was most gentil. Such a clean well shaven drunk, it is a wonder the polis didn't ask if they would like their chauffeur alerted, to take them home. Did they really take umpteen hours to drink a 2 litre bottle of cider and they stayed drunk? We must be told the name of this potent brew!

As for the conga line of "get your shirts off lads and let's bond" and let's sing a good old rebel song (for of course all oirish are rebels even after 30 yrs in England-shure they're only lads at heart). As they dance through the pub and out into the street with not a comment from anyone in the pub, well it is all so believable. Then the dapper Jap puts his shirt on again now he has bonded.

Of course the Oirish screen writers gave it an award.

The film had it's moments of poignancy and truth but they were sacrificed to the altar/stage of Irish caricatures. Not too far really from the semtex toting/Irish (extracted?) dancing thug of 'Shameless' played by Sean Gilder. But with Shameless we know where the writer is coming from and we are both entertained and educated by the revelations of human life. King's does not have the often delicate touch of life seen in shameless.

The director struggled with the script and its adaptation for screen. He lost the intimacy that drink brings and the very dark humour we Irish have in abundance. Standing around in an empty room was not good cinema.

Was it awful, No. Would I watch it again, never.

scannan maith!!!(go film)

[eamo-1 · 9/10 · 1 October 2007]

this is the only good honest film about irish culture i've seen .

the story is slow moving but very good (unless you need an action thriller to keep you awake).

i watched it last night and when i was coming out of the theatre one of the actors was strolling along beside me, chatting to his friends. UNREAL how often does that happen.

it's kind of like watching ros na run but with a proper story and actors.

overall its well worth a watch .even if its just to see what gaeilge sounds like on the big screen.

loved the part with the rebel tunes.

Not a good film...

[yawgmoth_742 · 1/10 · 29 September 2007]

I was dragged to this film by a Gaelic-Irish fanatic friend of mine. He described it as "an Irish film", and I expected an English-language one. (I'm Irish, and have lived here in Dublin my whole life, and like most Irish people, haven't the foggiest interest in the Gaelic language now that I am done in school.) I may have brought some of my anti-Gaelic bias into the film with me, but it must be borne in mind that when I saw "Yu Ming is Ainm Dom" I was trapped in the Irish education system, and inherently resented the language more than I do now, but I still really loved that short film.

This film, however, is sorely lacking.

For starters, it is technically poor. I am used to seeing hand-held camera work (I assume that's what it was...) in war films and the like, when it has a purpose, but it seemed that this film's crew really didn't know how to hold the thing steady. The subtitles, given that this film was made primarily for a "foreign" (Anglophone) audience, left much to be desired: there were at least one or two misprints, and a number of instances of the word "I" simply being replaced with an apostrophe.

The plot is trite - a man has died, and his friends and father come together to mourn him. (Well, honestly it's a little more complicated than that, but it's still not very enthralling.) The filming locations (according to IMDb and my friend's research) were a complete waste of money. There was absolutely nothing in the film that could not have been shot just about anywhere in Ireland to the same effect, but they apparently had no qualms (even on what was obviously a modest budget) shipping every member of a substantial enough cast and crew over to London.

To touch upon the sociological implications of a film that obviously considers itself to be very politically charged, I will make but two points. I have heard many Irish people complain about stereotypes of the drunken Irish, but I really don't think the people who expect this film to be seen abroad have any right to complain, given the image they apparently don't mind promoting. Secondly, how long is it going to take watching British television and spending large amounts of time in England for nationalists in this country to realize that not every last English person is that villainous (at least not anymore). In my experience, most young Britons have no problem acknowledging some of the bad things their soldiers did abroad back in the day. (I'd say they will always regard "Once Upon a Time in China" or "Fearless" more highly than this film...) But the way the bartender effectively bans the characters from speaking Irish-Gaelic at her bar shows the kind of bias the writers had.

Lastly, I should point out the fact that the "Micil" character doesn't seem to age much in the 30 years separating the main story from the flashback, and in the main story he seems to be not all that much older than his son's friends. Maybe that's what all that alcohol did to them...

Anyway, to sum up, a politically controversial film, with little going for it in terms of either plot or imagery. Avoid like the plague (unless your teacher forces you to see it).

The Film overall...

[Ronina · 9/10 · 25 July 2008]

Overall this was an excellent film, the story was good, and so was the acting. the only thing that I found difficult was the fact that it as in a language I didn't understand, so I had to read the subtitles. Don't get me wrong after a while you get used to it, and you can still enjoy the film 100 percent. other than that it is a very good film, that I would recommend!

Also another aspect of this film was that the characters were very, very real. they all had different personalities. the only thing was, being from a very different country couldn't get their names until we were halfway into the film, so it did get a little confusing, but never the less I stand by what I said in the first paragraph, that this was a very well done film.

And although it was a story that was sadder then most, it did have parts that were happy, even funny! it wasn't all sad and depressing.

so yes, this is a good, very good film to see, so I recommend it!

A long way from home....

[arthurdaley69 · 9/10 · 5 February 2010]

An excellent movie and very unusual in that it is almost entirely 'as gaeilge'. Colm Meaney is the most recognizable actor involved, well for non Irish people he will be anyway, but the supporting cast is equally strong.

Having lived in England for a while in the 1990's myself I could readily identify with the constant nagging doubts as to whether they could make a go of it back home or not - if only they had the courage to give it a try.

This movie is obviously intensely 'Irish' but it's message could apply to any foreigners anywhere.

Language and country... or countries?

[JustLiam · 16 September 2008]

I love any good Irish film and really want to see this. When I first saw the writeup on a few different sites I decided to look into it before I got the movie. And after reading everyones comments Im even more confused. Im guessing the movie is not spoken in English? I've always thought the Irish spoke English with an Irish accent. However, everyone's comments say differently. To make this even more confusing, someone commented that they wanted the movie spoken in Irish and not English. Yet they wrote there comment in English.... IM CONFUSED.

Could someone clarify if this is in fact English with an Irish accent or is there some language I don't know about. Also if it is not spoken in English, could someone verify if the "English version" of the movie has an alternate title here in the US.

Thank you

Kings on USA DVD.

[defactofilms-1 · 8/10 · 14 September 2008]

Bigtraveller (sic) sounds like a big idiot....Kings Abu !

Whenever I see Colm Meaney in anything, I get a warm, fuzzy feeling. It may be the Irish in me coming out -- Meaney was born in Dublin, Ireland -- but it's more likely a residue of his role as Chief Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He instantly came across as dignified yet combustible. If he'd been born 50 years earlier, he would have been an ideal supporting character in a ton of classic Hollywood movies.

Eventually I discovered some of his earlier work (The Commitments and The Snapper, to name two good ones) and grew to appreciate his rich dramatic abilities. These dramatic abilities are on full display in Kings. The Film was nominated for a record 14 nominations in the IFTAS. Meaney for best supporting actor. Kicks picked up 5, The film which has been submitted by Ireland as their official entrant in the race for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, according to Variety. Kings is based on the play The Kings of Kilburn Road by Irish playwright Jimmy Murphy; multi award winning industry vet Tom Collins wrote the script and produced and directed. The premise is that six men left Ireland for London in search of their fortune. Thirty years have passed with none of their dreams being realized, a point driven home when one of the group dies and the others reunite for his wake. Favourably reviewing the film earlier this year, Jay Weissberg of Variety wrote: "Though unable to completely shed its theatrical origins, Tom Collins' Kings offers a trenchant look at the recent Irish immigrant experience." Weissberg noted that the film is the first bilingual picture produced in Ireland, with the cast speaking a mixture of Irish Gaelic and English.

The film had its first public screening at TIFF on Wednesday night; it plays again on Friday morning, September 14. Kings is also scheduled to screen at the Director's Guild of America Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday, September 28, as part of the Directors Finders Series 2007. The latter screening is intended as a showcase for American distributors.

Since then it has had a successful theatrical release in the USA and picked up more awards.

Poignant tale of wasted lives

[The_Poacher · 9/10 · 25 March 2009]

Kings is a movie which could have been set in practically any large metropolis on earth to where people migrate in search of a better life. The main characters could have been Russians, Poles, Brazilians, Chinese or any other nationality which is familiar with the phenomenon of mass emigration. In this instance however, the protagonists are Irishmen who left their native Connemara over 30 years previous to seek their fortune amidst the bright lights of London, whilst always retaining the intention of returning home in triumph.

However, like many of the hundreds of thousands who made the same journey, life did not work out as they had planned and a number of the group have seemingly fallen through life's cracks and would appear to now exist beyond the pale of civil society. They are of the generation of Irish immigration to the UK, many of whom would have encountered a degree of anti-Irish prejudice in Thatcher's Britain and would have borne the brunt of English reaction to the IRA's bombing campaigns of the 70s and 80s. As a result, it is clear that they have retained an otherness and a dislocation from their surroundings which means they can never call England home.

However the Ireland that they left, the one which their nostalgic notions still visualise, is also a changed, and indeed quite possibly foreign place. They are effectively men without a home and can seemingly deal with this fact only through immersion in drink and dysfunctionality. Women do not appear to any great extent, possibly because these men would appear to have never fully left adolescence behind. They inhabit the brutal world of the navvy, a quasi military existence eked out on the building sites and motorways of England, where the comradeship of mates is valued above all else, and where to break away from the group is viewed as being tantamount to treason. Indeed, this very issue is a major cause of tension between a number of the characters.

Kings, both as a study of the world of the universal emigrant, as well as of the immigrant that he or she subsequently becomes, is of great relevance to our 21st century existence. As a study of the human condition, it succeeds in capturing the disillusionment felt by all those, regardless of race or nationality, who may believe that they have wasted their existence. How ironic indeed, that the first Irish language feature is also quite possibly, the most universally accessible Irish feature to date with regard to the treatment of its subject matter.

Highly recommended.