Irish movies
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Connecticut has gotten the Irish weather - rain and fog on St. Patrick’s day. What better day to have an Irish movie marathon? Every March, I like to watch my favorite Irish movies. It’s fun to watch seasonal movies every month to get hyped up for the upcoming holidays! Although with me being Irish, I watch many of those on repeat through out the year!
In Wicklow National Park - some scenes from PS I Love You movie were shot here.
Here are some that I’ve watched (no, I didn’t watch all of this today!) and highly recommend:
Leap Year
Cute rom com movie! It’s about a woman who learned that it was Irish tradition to propose on Leap Year (not sure if this tradition is actually true!) but it was filmed all in Ireland.
Waking Ned Devine
A classic movie. An Irish man, Ned Devine, wins the lottery but dies. The small town rallies together to claim his ticket. One of best Irish humor movies!
Brooklyn
One of my favorites - based on a book. An Irish immigrant comes to Brooklyn during 1950’s. It shows the difficulty of transition and missing family/home in Ireland.
PS I Love You
My most favorite Irish rom com. Such a tearjerker but so good! It’s all about pain, growing and learning how to love again. It’s based on a book too.
The Quiet Man
Another classic that you must see. Maureen O’Hara does an amazing job of acting in this movie! A boxer leaves America to return home to Ireland. He hopes to buy his family’s home, but meets a woman. It’s really an entertaining movie.
The Boondocks Saints
Action thriller movie about two Irish Catholic brothers. They believed that their faith called them to help ‘clean’ up Boston which was getting overrun with criminal activities. They hunt down gangsters while there’s a FBI agent closing on them. Good amount of action in this movie!
In America
An Irish family moves to NYC to chase the father’s dreams of acting. It is tough to watch as they had hard time financially. This movie was heartwarming tho! Worth to watch.
The Secret of Roan Inish
If you’re not familiar with selkie - it’s part of Irish folklore. A selkie is seal person, who is half fish and half human. In the water, they are a seal but on land, they are human. This movie is about a lost brother who was a selkie. I really enjoyed this movie - actually have been watching it since I was young!
Ondine
Another movie about selkie. This takes place in a fishing village (y’all know how much I love the fishing village in Stonington!!) so naturally I watched this movie. Collin Farrell starred in it, I always enjoyed his movies.
Darby O’Gill and the little people
1959 Disney movie. A man tricks leprechauns into giving him their 3 wishes. The acting is bad but this was a funny (dorky funny kind) movie.
Philomena
Based on a book, a strong movie about faith and family. During 1950’s it was common for young Irish single mothers to be forced to give their babies/children up for adoption. This movie follows a reporter with an elderly Irish mother who seek for the son that she lost. It’s a powerful movie!
The Young Offenders
This comedy movie made me laugh so much! Two Irish teens from Cork steal bicycles and go down to the coastline to look for a missing bale of cocaine (worth 7 million euros). Inspired by the true event of Ireland’s biggest cocaine seizure in 2007 which was valued at 440 million euros!
Ryan’s Daughter
Ok, this had a weird storyline but I liked that it showed a lot of Irish countryside especially Cliffs of Moher. This movie is also 3 hours long, it was really really slow in some parts.
Tara Road
Two women swap their houses while they’re going through some personal things in their lives. One lives in Dublin, Ireland and the other lives in Connecticut. Ireland and Connecticut obviously grabbed my attention so I watched this and enjoyed the cute movie. If you like the movie ‘The Holiday’, it’s very similar. This one also was based on a well known Irish author’s book.
Derry Girls
Not a movie, but a TV series that is binge watch worthy! It follows a group of high school kids living in Ireland during the Troubles period. So funny!!
Cliffs of Moher is seen in many Irish movies.
I know there’s many more that I have yet to see, I have a running list to watch them someday! Please recommend any Irish/Ireland movies - I will add them to the list!
Hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day! Slainte!
Irish pub in Dingle.