Homestead Review – Irish quintet of linked short films delve into stereotypes | film

WDirector Liam O’Motion spent more than three years shooting this film, which is a collection of five self-contained short films set in different parts of Ireland. This either makes him heroically persistent in seeing his vision through or makes him somewhat incompetent, as there is no noticeable improvement over the course of the film. Each of these risqué tales is pointedly directed and played as if the screenplay were inspired by true stories from Take a Break magazine — though we hope there’s nothing too real about the potentially comedic fourth story, which ends (spoiler alert) with a woman (Jill Brady) trapped inside a “smart” oven about to turn itself on. It’s supposed to be funny because her husband (Matthew O’Brien) is very weak when it comes to technology and doesn’t know how to turn off the oven. Because guys geddit?

Other premiums are a little better, but only in small amounts, just as one flavor of off-brand potato chips may be preferred over another. The former at least has the always watchable Marion O’Dwyer playing Carol, a homeless woman still grieving for her dead husband (she listens to his voicemail greeting several times a day). She crashes a restaurant on Christmas Day to host a feast for her rough-sleeping friends. Likewise, a brief scene about Molly (Rosemary Henderson) meeting the son she put up for adoption years ago is passable thanks to excellent performances, but the development of O Henry feels a little too weak.

There’s less charm in the chapter on middle-aged flirtation that’s also essentially a celebration of drinking and codependency, and the whole package ends with another booze-soaked good luck story that attempts to check Ireland’s national obsession with gambling. Characterization rarely rises above stereotype-mongering here; At least (mostly) in focus.