| Alan
('Bugsy Malone','The Wall', 'Evita') Parkers latest movie is a straight
adaptation of Frank McCourts account of his early life growing up in Ireland.
Frank (newcomer Joe Breen) has things tough, half his family dies of malnutrition,
the family home is a sodden, flea-pit, his mother Angela (Emily Watson -
'Breaking the Waves', 'The Boxer') must beg for charity and his father (Robert
Carlyle - 'The World is not Enough', 'The Beach') drinks away any money
the family has. With such an outlook it is amazing that Parker has managed
to produce such a successful film, but he has, and manages to draw the film
away from despair as Frank grows up, discovering such delights as masturbation
and the holy communion, starting work and falling in love. As Frank grows
the role is taken over by Ciaran Owens (seen in TV's 'Ballykissangel') and
Michael Legge, and although young Joe Breen threatens to steal the show,
both Legge and Owens acquit themselves well |
