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Green Book Director: Peter Farrelly Talent: Maher
shala Ali, Viggo Mortensen Release: 30 January The Hole in the Ground Director: Lee Cronin Talent: Séana Kerslake, James Quinn Markey, James Cosmo, Simone Kirby Released: 1 March The Green Book is not only the title, but also an integral item in Peter Farrelly’s film. The Negro Motorist Green Book was the Lonely Planet for African-American’s travelling through America’s Jim Crow South. It’s with this booklet in hand and a trunk full of leather cases that ItalianAmerican tough-guy Tony Lip acts as chauffeur and bodyguard for jazz piano virtuoso Don Shirley on his latest tour. Played by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali respectively, the pair couldn’t be more different. The pianist is refined and mollycoddled, highly educated and perceptive. His driver is always eating, swearing and generally boorish. Both actors capture the zeitgeist, narrowly avoiding becoming caricatures. Ali is no doubt one of cinema’s most dynamic leading men and it’s easy enough to completely forget that it’s him behind the eccentric Shirley, such is his nuanced interpretation of the unlikeliest hero in America’s fight against inequality. Believable but lacking depth, the dialogue is brought to life by the leads. From the moment the car departs, their preconceptions fall foul to the qualities each other exhibits. Tony Lip won’t judge Shirley, although Shirley often judges him. Lip, we learn, is a product of his environment. Shirley the architect of his. Both are the better for meeting one another. A drama by label, the road-trip buddy flick is at its best as a comedy. When Lip takes on some of Shirley’s refined vernacular in letters to his wife, we can’t help but smile, if only to stop us shedding a tear. Similarly, in moments when Shirley learns to let loose, we learn the most profound lessons the film has to teach us. It’s easy-going. It doesn’t make you think too hard nor does it pose any tricky questions. That also means it’s easy to like. It’d take a hard heart not to. EN Right from the opening credits when we see an aerial shot of a sky, road and forest slowly inverted, there’s a sense of heightened expectation about Lee Cronin’s debut horror feature. Sarah (Kerslake) has just moved with her precocious son Chris (Markey) to a secluded country house. She’s hoping to leave a failed relationship behind and start afresh. After Chris briefly disappears, Sarah discovers he’s been near a sinkhole in the forest and the insidious creep begins. An encounter with a mysterious neighbour further compounds her concerns as to who her son really is. However, Sarah’s fragile and medicated state makes us question her reliability and adds to the suspenseful tight-rope upon which the story is predicated. Is she paranoid or has she cause for genuine concern? Featuring terrific central performances by Kerslake and Markey, who is almost a dead ringer for Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, The Hole in the Ground is an incredibly accomplished debut feature by Cronin and his co-writer Stephen Shields. The slow build edges tension to the precipice of that hole and Tom Comerford’s (Michael Inside) cinematography is highly effective in conveying the atmospherics – aligning the swirl of coffee cup bubbles and suds in a sink with the gravitational pull of fear. The Hole in the Ground has been acquired by A24 (Hereditary) for US distribution and premiered at the Sundance festival last month, therefore, there are justifiably great expectations that this will be a boxoffice smash on both sides of the Atlantic. It sets a high benchmark for Irish film releases in 2019. MMD 77