The Irish in Britain, including those of Irish descent, make up a significant part of the UK population. Here, you will find news, entertainment, events, sports and features from the local Irish Post newspaper.

FILM REVIEW

Crash

By Patrick Ryan

Intelligent cinema is something of a rarity these days. Studios are only too happy to beat us over the head with loud, crass blockbusters — you only have to see The Island, Fantastic Four and Stealth in the listings for that — but it takes a truly exceptional drama to garner any attention these days.

Thankfully Crash is truly exceptional.

The directorial debut of Haggis, the man who wrote the Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby, is an ensemble piece that deals with the thorny topic of racism.

There’s the cop, who is sick of looking at how black people keep getting helping hands, the Middle Eastern businessman who is fed up with the assumption that he is a terrorist, the trophy wife who is scared of black men after they hijack her car, the black cop who won’t tell his mum that his girlfriend is Hispanic and so on.

It makes for one huge melting pot and at times is reminiscent of Magnolia or Short Cuts.

The Los Angeles backdrop over which everything plays is used to stunning effect, Haggis has actually watched a few Michael Mann films to see how to make the scenery as much a part of the plot as the characters.

If it does have a weakness it’s that it tends to hammer home just how racist we are and a few scenes are over-simplified and exaggerated.

But this doesn’t stop Crash being a powerful example of how potent cinema can be.

Starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, Thandie Newton and Ryan Phillippe.

Directed by Paul Haggis.

Out nationwide now.

The Island

FILM REVIEW

By Patrick Ryan

The Island defies the rules of the blockbuster in many ways and actually makes the audience think... but just a little.

It appears to be set in a colony living in an undisclosed period of the future after a plague has wiped out most of civilisation, bar these lucky few who have been rescued and now live in a beautiful, if stifling, utopia.

But unbeknownst to them, they are in fact being harvested for spare parts as they are actually clones of the rich and powerful who live in the outside world. Until one day Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) snoops around and discovers the truth.

The Island of the title refers to the paradise they are told they go to when they leave the colony, when in fact they are being cut up for parts needed by their real-life counterparts.

On the day Lincoln discovers the truth, his best friend, Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson), has just been selected to go to the Island and so, after a rescue, Lincoln and Jordan escape into the real world, where they must stay alive to tell the world what is happening.

After a monotonous half-hour the movie takes off at a breakneck pace.

Nonetheless The Island is a solid, action-driven piece. Go see The Island and enjoy it for what it is: Exciting, funny and, in places, thought-provoking.

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson and Steve Buscemi.

Directed by: Michael Bay

Out nationwide now.