The acting, music, and accents all pique our interest. Irish movies are interesting. So do you wonder what are the best Irish movies? The shaky ties to our immigrant ancestors might also inspire some of us. But whether or not you have personal attachments to the heavily mythologized “Old Country,” the distinctive fusion of political tragedy and gallows humor found in Irish cinema is enough to enthrall even the most skeptic viewer.
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These six outstanding Irish movies tackle subjects like the Troubles, small-town life, motherhood, and the Irish Civil War with exceptional finesse. These movies actually feature Irish actors in them, which is luckily less common than in other “Irish” movies like Wild Mountain Thyme or P.S. I Love You.
1. An Everlasting Piece (2000)
Colm (Barry McEvoy) and George (Brian F. O’Byrne), two struggling barbers, decide to invest in the Scalper, a hairpiece company that was once run by a notorious convict, after accepting positions at a Belfast mental hospital (Billy Connelly). However, there are a few issues: A few frighteningly bald IRA (Irish Republican Army) members seek hairpieces to cover their humiliation, their start-up company soon faces competition, and Colm and George are both Catholics. Barry Levinson’s An Everlasting Piece, which is set during the Troubles, a time of violence and sectarian strife in Northern Ireland that lasted from the 1970s to the 1990s, puts a lighthearted spin on the Catholic vs. Protestant, Republican vs. Unionist conflict that dominated Irish political discussion during the 20th century.
2. The Commitments (1991)
Colm (Barry McEvoy), a struggling barber Snappy wit, and a top-notch soundtrack, two characteristics of Irish comedy, are present in this movie adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s book of the same name. Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkin), a budding soul musician, has a lot of interest when he decides to form a band.
The band also includes country music enthusiast Bernie McGloughlin (Bronagh Gallagher), blue-eyed alto Natalie Murphy (Maria Doyle), and local beauty Imelda Quirke (Angeline Ball) as support singers. Along with the schizophrenic drummer Mickah Wallace (Dave Finnegan), the other musicians include the saxophonist Dean Fay (Félim Gormley), the guitarist Outspan Foster (Glen Hansard), the bassist Derek Scully (Kenneth McCluskey), the pianist Steven Clifford (Michael Aherne), the vocalist Deco Cuffe (Andrew Strong), and the supreme egotist Deco Cuffe
3. Belfast (2021)
In his ode to his Protestant upbringing in Northern Ireland and subsequent departure to England even during the Troubles, Kenneth Branagh tells the tale of Buddy (Jude Hill), the younger brother of a working-class family residing in violent Belfast in 1969. Billy has a crush on a classmate while his mother (Caitrona Balfe) manages the home and his father (Jamie Dornan) commutes to England on a monthly basis for work.
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Billy seeks guidance from his grandparents, Judi Dench and Ciarán Hinds, regarding dating. But as local Protestant militant Billy Clanton (Colin Morgan), who destroys Catholic residences and tries to enlist Buddy’s father in his cause, puts more and more strain on the family, the idea of moving to England starts to sound more and more enticing.
4. In Bruges (2008)
In Martin McDonagh’s gory comedy, the criminal agent and troublemaker Ray (amazingly portrayed by Colin Farrell) travel from Ireland to Bruges, Belgium, pretending to be on vacation. While Ray despises the European metropolis, Ken is hiding a terrible secret: on the orders of South London criminal Harry (Ralph Fiennes), he is forced to take drastic measures because Ray accidentally shot and killed a child during confession earlier in his career.
However, Ray’s troublesome contacts with both locals and visitors, as well as Ken’s growing guilt over the idea of killing his friend, put a stop to his scheme.
5. The Snapper (1993)
Once more adapted from a Roddy Doyle novel, The Snapper’s raucous banter and candor about pregnancies, alcoholism, and family life in having to work Dublin work well on the big screen. Spirited 20-year-old Sharon Curley (Tina Kellegher), who is friends with the annoying George Burgess (Pat Laffan), encounters him when intoxicated and ends up becoming pregnant.
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She turns to her father (Colm Meaney) for assistance when she is confronted with the condemnation of her conservative Catholic neighborhood and her friend’s refusal once her baby’s paternity is discovered, even though she maintains that her “Snapper” (i.e., baby) is the result of a one-night stand with a Spanish sailor.
6. Waking Ned Devine (1998)
Ned Devine’s (Jimmy Keogh) devoted pals Jackie O’Shea (Ian Bannen) and Michael O’Sullivan (David Kelly) must decide how to divide their late friend’s winnings among their fellow villagers when it turns out that Ned Devine (a recent death villager) has won the lotto. Maggie O’Toole (Susan Lynch), the landowner’s daughter, ignores Finn (James Nesbitt), a stinky pig farmer who thinks he is the father of her child. Jackie and Michael are forced to get into some amusing mischief when a National Lottery Inspector shows up to make sure that the late Ned Devine’s lottery winnings were legal. Their goal is to protect the economic future of their isolated community.
