The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

I don't remember hearing about this story before, but I can guess why I added it to my queue. Family-friendly Irish fantasies have a good track record with me. Anyway, it was rather different from my most recent viewings, despite being set in the aftermath of World War II.

In '46, possibly nine-year-old Fiona has lost her mother, and her father's in a poor state to take care of her, so she moves to her grandparents' seaside village. She comes to learn of nearby Roan Inish, which means "Island of Seals," but rumor has it they're really selkies. In fact, she's said to have descended from one, tho evidence lies only in the occasional dark-haired family member with a strong marine inclination. Fiona learns that she had one such baby brother, who disappeared with his cradle at sea. Intrigued, she starts repeatedly visiting Roan Inish with slightly older cousin Eamon -- and makes a discovery that few even among the locals would believe....

Belfast (2021)

No, I really didn't have St. Patrick's Day in mind when I put this right after The Banshees of Inisherin in my queue. I just happened to choose them from among recent Academy Best Picture nominees I hadn't seen yet.

In 1969, nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) has been mostly enjoying his life. He does pretty well in school and has a mutual crush on a classmate. Alas, The Troubles are beginning. His Protestant family has mostly Catholic neighbors who don't give them trouble, but Buddy, his older brother (Lewis McAskie), and their pa (Jamie Dornan) are all under pressure, especially from one thug (Colin Morgan), to join the worsening Protestant riots lest they be targeted with the Catholics. Buddy's ma (Caitríona Balfe) and pa alternately entertain the idea of moving out of Northern Ireland for safety, but Buddy would hate to leave his friends and ailing grandparents (Oscar nominees Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds).

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

I might as well tell you up front how to pronounce the last word of the title: "in-uh-SHARE-in." I won't provide similar guidance for the character names, because you're not likely to say them until after you've watched.

On a tiny ficitious isle in 1923, Pádraic (Colin Farrell) suddenly finds that his drinking buddy Colm (Brendan Gleeson) wants nothing more to do with him. Colm eventually explains that he'd rather pursue a legacy as a composer for the fiddle than listen to Pádraic's unenriching blabber. Pádraic won't give up on him that easily, thinking he's just going through a depressive phase. Colm threatens self-mutilation if Pádraic won't stop talking to him. Things get uglier from there.

Calvary (2014)

I don't recall learning about this one before. Maybe Netflix recommended it based on my interest in vaguely similar rentals. Maybe I wanted another Catholic priest story, even if they're as hit-or-miss as anything. I doubt it was a desire to learn about director John Michael McDonagh.

In a small Irish town, Father James (Brendan Gleeson) hears an unseen man in a confessional booth promise to kill him, albeit with the courtesy of a week to set his affairs in order. With no seal of confession on a threat, James tells the bishop (David McSavage) but not the police. Nor does he flee. Indeed, for the next week, he barely says a word about it, instead dealing with various locals' troubles.

Hunger (2008)

I knew going in that this would be gloomy. Nevertheless, I was interested to see something directed by Steve McQueen (the British one) other than 12 Years a Slave. He really hasn't done many feature-length films, before or since.

The first spoken line gives a good idea of the plot: "I will not wear the uniform of a criminal." In the early '80s, prisoners in Northern Ireland identifying with the Irish Republican Army want to be officially recognized as political prisoners and given more humane conditions. When the "dirty" protest doesn't work, they resort to -- you guessed it -- a hunger strike.

The Secret Life of Words (2005)

I had an unusual reason for moving this to the top of my queue: At some point, I had rated it accidentally, never having seen it. Netflix, alas, doesn't allow removal of ratings, only re-rating. Well, worse things have come of accidents. Besides, Pedro Almodóvar produced it, and I hadn't seen any of his work in five years.

In Northern Ireland, unsociable nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) never has a day off until her employer, under union pressure, orders her to take a month's paid vacation. Instead of heading to a tropical island as suggested, when she overhears in public about trouble finding a nurse for an emergency at an offshore oil rig, she offers her services. The patient, Josef (Tim Robbins), got badly burned and temporarily blinded. In the face of his persistent attempts to break the ice, she gradually opens up to him like she has to no one this side of therapist Inge (Julie Christie).

Sing Street (2016)

When I learned that this was an Irish movie about amateur music, I figured my mom would love it, as she loved Once and The Commitments. The former didn't do much for me; the latter I liked but not as much as she did. Perhaps I should have waited and watched SS with her, but I felt like streaming something popular and less than two hours long.

In the mid-'80s, when music videos are big and the economy of Dublin isn't, 15-year-old Conor gets transferred to a cheaper school, Synge Street CBS, with plenty of bad boys (most notably physical bully Barry) and a harsh principal, Brother Baxter. He copes by assembling a rock band of tolerable students with various skill levels, making himself the lead singer and secondary guitarist. This offers the bonus of drawing the interest of a 16-year-old aspiring model, Raphina, who becomes the highlight of their homemade videos and, of course, Conor's love interest, however shakily.

Handsome Devil (2016)

Wow, only 31 IMDb votes before mine and no comments. Leave it to AFI to dig up obscure foreign titles. Still, an 8.7 is nothing to sneeze at, so my parents and I went for it.

Narrator Ned, at 16, wishes he'd be allowed to drop out. Anyone at his boarding school who doesn't love rugby, such as himself, is an outcast subject to anti-gay slurs, and administrators do nothing to make outcasts' lives easier. He prefers to keep to himself, cheating on assignments to retain plenty of time to do basically nothing. When he gets a roommate, Conor, who has been a rugby star elsewhere and promises to be one here, Ned thinks his luck just got even worse. But Conor isn't all he pretends to be, and they do bond over music. Furthermore, Dan Sherry, a new teacher who combines strict discipline with relative coolness, encourages his students to be their best. If only the rugby coach saw things his way...

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)

Many movies and shows stop streaming on Netflix on January 1. This one stops on December 31 for some reason, so I gave it priority. At least I won't take as long to decide what to watch for the next week or so.

Set in Ireland in the early '20s, the plot moves from one war (of independence) to another (civil) so swiftly that I didn't immediately realize there was more than one. For the first, brothers Damien and Teddy become inclined to fight the British when some Black and Tans kill their friend for little reason. For the second, they are on opposites sides regarding whether to accept the compromise of the peace treaty until a better time to push for more rights. I might as well tell you now: It does not end well for them.

Brooklyn (2015)

I hadn't expected to see this, especially in a theater. The advertising just hadn't grabbed me, if I even knew of it. But when my folks invited me for a Thanksgiving viewing, I thought, "Well, why not? It's popular enough."

In the early '50s, young woman Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) moves from a small Irish town to the titular borough for a prearranged job. It takes her some time to fit in, but a big boost comes when lovable Italian-American Tony (Emory Cohen) courts her and then her boarding housemates help her react appropriately. It looks as though that would be the end of her homesickness, but then some news from Ireland arrives in the second half....

The Secret of Kells (2009)/Song of the Sea (2014)

As with the How to Train Your Dragon series, I don't feel like I can review my most recent viewing without also reviewing another. SotS isn't a sequel, and even "spiritual successor" is a stretch (sorry about this sibilation), but it and TSoK have a lot of uncommon facets in, er, common. Both come from minor French-Belgian-Irish studio Cartoon Saloon, under the direction of illustrator Tomm Moore. Both work from Celtic folklore, keeping it simple enough for kids, and have Brendan Gleeson as their best-known voice actor. Both star a prepubescent human boy and a youthful female sprite, with a pet tagging along for good measure. Both have beautifully haunting music and a captivating 2D style that manages to be cartoony and artsy at the same time. Both have been nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, and I don't expect SotS to win either. With so little brand recognition, they're inherent niche players, however undeservedly.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

This has to be the first movie I've seen because of the title appearing in a Warner Bros. cartoon, albeit on a copy of the book. Despite its high praise, it took a long time to become an option on Netflix, which made me wonder if it hadn't aged well. Now the only major negative I can think of is director Elia Kazan's history of getting people blacklisted during the Red Scare, which might hinder distribution of all but his most popular works.

At first, with young protagonist Francie and her brother swiping and pawning goods, I mistook the setting for the Great Depression, but it turns out to have been an even harder period for some: the early 1900s. The main family includes at least one person who remembers Ireland, and the father (James Gleason in an award-winning role) likes to play up his heritage with jolly songs like "Molly Malone"...and getting "sick" too often for comfort, as his wife likes to put it to the children. Such a setup for a two-hour drama got me thinking I'd best do something else while half-watching and mostly listening. Mercifully, as the title hints, the story doesn't settle into despair. Not for long, anyway.

The Naked City (1948)

Conventionally, this is classified as film noir, as befits pre-Rififi director Jules Dassin, but I think it pushes the bounds of that label. Most of the action takes place by day, for example, and the protagonists are hardly corrupt or morose. I'd call it just an old-time murder mystery -- a police procedural, even.

The most distinctive feature of the, ah, feature comes in the narration. Despite not identifying as a character within the story, the narrator conveys a fair amount of personality, more or less lightly mocking the concerned citizens of New York every step of the way. (Maybe Lemony Snicket should branch out accordingly.) It threatens to annoy rather than amuse viewers after a while, but hopefully, by that time, you'll be too engrossed to dwell on that.