The upbeat tone of the 45th Murphy's Cork Film Festival was firmly set on Sunday night when the event opened with the Irish premiere of Gerry Stembridge's exuberant and immensely entertaining romantic comedy, About Adam, which proved popular with the full house at the bright and sleekly refurbished Cork Opera House.
Set for an Irish release in mid-January, About Adam features the fast-rising US actress, Kate Hudson, as Lucy Owens, a Dubliner who works in a city-centre restaurant and is wishing for a fresh face to turn up in her life - when he does. He is Adam (Stuart Townsend), who effortlessly charms his way into her bed before going on to seduce both her sisters (Frances O'Connor and Charlotte Bradley) - and in one of the movie's wittiest sequences, looks like he is about to add their only brother (Alan Maher) to his conquests. Stembridge's screenplay is cleverly devised to show key events from the perspectives of the different characters.
Stembridge's second feature film as writer and director is played with panache and perfect timing by a fine cast which also includes Rosaleen Linehan (as the mother of the Owens family), Tommy Tiernan and Brendan Dempsey. As Adam, the driving force of the narrative, Stuart Townsend does his best work to date, and with the crucial presence and allure to make his character so seductive.
Another Irish writer-director on his second feature, Eoin Moore follows his promising German-set debut film, Break Even, with the Irish-German production, Conamara, which had its Irish premiere at Cork on Monday night at the Kino arthouse where the demand for seats outweighed the cinema's capacity. The opening credits of Conamara are in German (eine Eoin Moore film), but as the title suggests, the film is set in the west of Ireland, and it is in English with a smattering of Irish.
Cinema's latest spin on the familiar theme of an emotional and sexual triangle, Moore's film features Ellen Ten Damme as Maria, a Dutch woman married to a local man, Antaine (Darragh Kelly) and living in Connemara with their nine-year-old daughter (Katie Nic Dhonnacha). Maria is a postal worker and Antaine, who comes from a family of boatbuilders, dreams of creating a craft that will take them around the world.
They are, to all appearances, a happy family - until, that is, a man from Maria's past turns up unexpectedly at their door. Axel (Andreas Schmidt), who is German, has separated from his wife in Berlin and is drawn to the area, he says, because Maria once told him that Connemara is a magical place where the impossible could become possible. What is impossible is for Maria to maintain a close relationship with both her husband and her ex-lover.
"Temptation sucks," Maria comments as she confides in her friend (Rosaleen Linehan) who responds with the view, "Self-denial sucks the most" - a reference to her own restrained relationship with a wine-loving priest (Garrett Keogh) who is showing signs of a heart condition.
In a key scene involving the three protagonists, Axel tells Antaine about an affair he had with a Dutchwoman, and Antaine is the only one of the three who does not know that he is talking about Maria. In this drama of trust and betrayal, the setting up of sexual tensions is subtly achieved in the naturalistic, understated and credible performances of Darragh Kelly and Ellen Ten Damme as Antaine and Maria. These prisoners of their emotions are observed against the idyllic, wide open spaces of the handsomely captured Connemara landscape.
The loose, apparently improvisational style of the movie, however, allows it to meander, overstretching the conventional material, and it turns jarringly melodramatic in its protracted conclusion. Its infusions of local myths and superstitions feel more like they were designed for export rather than growing organically from the narrative.
A similar theme was explored with more depth and vigour - and at half the length - by Kieran Hickey in his admirable 1978 film, Exposure, which dealt with the impact of a German woman on three Irish men, two of them married, at a hotel in the west of Ireland.
Meanwhile, the international features programme at Cork so far this week has included highlights such as the gentle and winning - though overly sentimental - Chinese film, Shower, directed by Zhang Yang; Christopher Nolan's clever and tantalising US thriller, Memento, with Guy Pearce as a man whose investigation of his wife's murder is hampered by short-term memory loss; and the inventive Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's stylish and involving In the Mood For Love, with Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung as neighbours gradually drawn to each other as they face up to the reality that their respective spouses are cheating on them.
The festival closes on Sunday night with the awards ceremony for shorts and documentaries, followed by the new Terence Davies film, his enthralling adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel, The House of Mirth, starring Gillian Anderson as an emotionally bruised New York socialite in the early years of the 20th century.
Next Cork festival report: Thursday arts page
