Disco Pigs

The last Irish film I saw was The Butcher Boy and I don’t know what the hullabaloo was about that film. However, Ireland has redeemed itself with this incredibly well acted film about teen angst, teen love and teen madness.

Pig (Cillan Murphy) and Runt (Elaine Cassidy) were born at the same time, on the same day, in the same hospital. An immediate bond developed that has lasted until now, just a few days before their 17th birthday. They even live as neighbours, with a hole punched between their rooms so they can hold hands through the night. They live in their own fantasy world, The Land of Pork, where Pig and Runt are King and Queen. However, as Pig’s burgeoning male sexuality and his increasing unwarranted violence make themselves felt the couple's unique understanding of each other begins to slip away. Gifted with a sort of telepathy in which they communicate and play pranks conceived by Pig, therein is a deep empathy toward each other and granted no-one else.

With parents deciding they are too close, and believing Runt has a chance at rehabilitation from their petty crime if away from Pig, she is taken away to a school for wayward girls. Here she is immediately trapped away from Pig for the first time in her life. She slowly emerges from within to explore her new world and make another friend, however, Pig, left alone and with increasing rage, goes off the rails and begins a bloody search to find her.

Truly dynamic performances from both of these young actors bring the true characters of Pig and Runt to glaring life. Runt, understated, always led into trouble by Pig and Pig, the controller, hopelessly in love with Runt, but with no idea how to express it appropriately. The alienation of the teen years is portrayed perfectly here as director Kirsten Sheridan wrings incredible performances from her youthful players.

The impossibly out-of-reach dreams of youth and the collision of them with the real world has been captured exceptionally in this incredibly unusual film from Ireland. Starting with the lyrical poetry of a dream state, it lilts and wends its way deeper into the shadows as the film progresses until eventually we are ensconced in a horrific nightmare of violence, giving the film a complete life cycle of its own. Beautifully shot and acted with subtlety, the tale unfolds at the exact length, not running too long, but rather just long enough, to be dramatically perfect.

Delivered in the original cinema aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with anamorphic enhancement, the film uses its size effectively, if not overly so. Mostly set among drab houses, there are metaphorical shots of lone figures on wide beaches that are very nice and use the screen size to the full. While the picture quality is just off razor sharp, it is more than adequate for the story here and does look good. The colour palette isn’t utilised a great deal, with mostly earthy tones throughout, however when colour becomes important later in the film, they aren’t let down in the least. Blacks are true, and dominate the shadowed scenes, but this is dramatic and no doubt deliberate, as the action we need to see is well lit and cleverly subtle.

Finally, flesh tones in Ireland are mostly pallid, so I’ve been led to believe, and in this film most look like they’ve never seen the sun... which is possibly true. They are natural though, and the pallid nature obviously suits the country and the storyline.

Dolby Digital 5.1 surround is granted us here, and it's perfectly substantial. Shots of the titled disco use the surrounds well to put us within the club and employ plenty of doof-doof techno to set the scene. The score is incredible here, going from techno to sleepy to haunting to dreamy in amazingly swift and melodic fashion. A very impressive score from Gavin Friday; a big name among the Irish music community (many will know his work from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack).

Dialogue, while dialectic in parts, is still mostly understood, though a few of Pig’s more recalcitrant language inflections may find the viewer rewinding once or twice. Sound effects have been used effectively with Pig’s crumbling mental state to foreshadow the coming storm with thunder and rumbling roaring effects that work brilliantly in portraying the mood. Allover a great sound package.

Quite a few, starting with a featurette running for 9:08 at 1.78:1 without enhancement. This is the usual sort of TV ad produced for European television and contains lots of film footage without enough actual interview material or whatever.

Interviews are next and fill us in where the featurette finished off. Basically, these are the entire reel of interviews they took soundbites from for the featurette, so we get a little bit of crossover. However, there are some interesting points raised about the film and characters within. 14:00 long and featuring interviews with Elaine Cassidy, Cillan Murphy, Kirsten Sheridan and producer Ed Buiney.

Behind the Scenes is just the B-roll and is largely unedited footage of the shoot. No intro or explanation and runs for 4:14 at 1.78:1 without enhancement. Next, the trailer pops in for 1:42 at 1.85:1 with 16:9 and also included are five bonus trailers for Madman DVDs that include The Kid Stays in the Picture, Russian Ark, 24 Hour Party People, Satin Rouge and Live Forever.

So, a relatively interesting batch of extras that enhances the film with extra info and such.

An unusual storyline with unusual characters still manages to resonate with familiarity, regardless of the differences between cultures. After all, the teen years are familiar to us all and the weird and uncomfortable mixing of newfound emotions is universal. Extraordinary performances from the two young stars will undoubtedly cement them within the industry and I definitely foresee these two showing up in future projects.

Beautifully shot and edited, with a dreamy and almost hypnotic lyricism, this is a magnificent film and one well worth checking out for any lover of excellent cinema or extraordinary acting. This is truly an amazing film and I sincerely recommend it to anyone willing to try something a little different.