The Butcher Boy (1997)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Neil Jordan

Writers:

Pat McCabe (novel)
Neil Jordan (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 February 1998 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

This little piggy laughed all the way home!

Plot:

The film tells the story of Francie who lives with his depressed mother and alcoholic father. He loves...

Plot Keywords:

Alcoholic | Murder | Suicide | Angel | Boarding School

Awards:

7 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Eamonn Owens	...	Francie Brady
Sean McGinley	...	Sergeant
Peter Gowen	...	Leddy
Alan Boyle	...	Joe Purcell
Andrew Fullerton	...	Phillip Nugent
Fiona Shaw	...	Mrs. Nugent
Aisling O'Sullivan	...	Ma Brady
Stephen Rea	...	Da Brady
John Kavanagh	...	Dr. Boyd
Rosaleen Linehan	...	Mrs. Canning
Anita Reeves	...	Mrs. Coyle
Gina Moxley	...	Mary
Niall Buggy	...	Father Dom
Ian Hart	...	Uncle Alo
Anne O'Neill	...	Mrs. McGlone

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Ireland | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Studios - Herbert Road, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland

Company:

Butcher Boy Film

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Book That Wrote Itself (1999)

Soundtrack:

I DREAMT I DWELT IN MARBLE HALLS

Weird but great!

The Butcher Boy is a very weird film...This boy Francie has a bad influence; his father. His father is a violent man, alcoholic, but he loves his son a lot...This boy is very well played by Eamonn Owens, a young actor I didn't know before who surely worths a look at his performance. Stephen Rea is perfect in the role of the violent father, and Fiona Shaw is great in the role of a woman who hates Francie, because he beats up her son. But Francie is dangerous...The story is a mix of fear, hate, madness, happiness, that is mixed up in that little boy's brain. Sometimes, he's the good boy who protects his mother and sometimes he is the murderer...Francie is full of contradictions, and he tries to put happiness and death together. The narrator is very funny, but sometimes tells innapropriate things for the images we watch...but that's the psychotic part of it...incredibly well-shot, this film deserves lots of attention. I bought it for five stupid dollars...and Lost In Space was fifteen dollars...and the video sold it because of the lack of rentals...well, too bad for this video, they have one less good film on the shelf.... Neil Jordan brought us The Crying Game, Interview With The Vampire, In Dreams and some other good films...but I believe this one is his finest job...it's like watching Sleepers, Psycho and A Clockwork Orange at the same time. One thing that could be a problem; the accent of the characters when they speak...but I was happy to see that it was not set in the United States...Great film... I give it 85% and maybe it deserves better.