Cowboys And Angels [2004] [DVD]

I received a preview disc for this film in May 2005 as it was being released in Australia. I popped the DVD into my PC just to see what this film looked and sounded like - and was immediately wrapped up in the visuals, the story and especially the sound. Even with a modest 5.1 speaker system I was amazed - it's hard to imagine a bigger or better experience in a cinema. Ninety minutes later I was happy to sing its praises.

I like that the script is very tight - yet allowing space for the characters to breathe. You can't help trying to second guess how they'll develop, because there's enough divergence to counter predictability - meaning that it all makes good reasonable sense and is very satisfying.

Filmed entirely on location in Limerick - the first time I'm aware of seeing this beautiful city on film. I enjoyed interviewing writer/director David Gleeson who says that the main characters are based roughly on his own experience as a young straight man with a overtly gay flatmate.

I'm stunned that there are so few positive reviews on Amazon for Cowboys And Angels - because among the hundreds of gay/queer films from around the world that I've viewed with an appreciation of their gay credibility and cinematic quality this film definitely is in my top ten.

The stunning surround sound mix by Germany's Sascha Heiny is just one of the attractions - and the film is certainly morally sound (being both very homo and hetero friendly). It's all round damned fine entertainment enhanced by beautiful Irish accents.

Anyone looking for a film to set as a benchmark for awfulness should go straight to the Australian teen surf lemon "Tan Lines" - and if you happen to find that you like Tan Lines then you must accept that you have no taste, and no sense of what's good, bad or indifferent in film making.

PS: for some unknown reason the Australian DVD release through ForceVideo had only 2.0 stereo, no subtitles and an inferior picture quality. The NTSC version preview disc was true 16:9 anamorphic, offered a choice of 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo, an excellent commentary track and English language subtitles. This PAL version listed at Amazon UK is released by TLA, the same company as the NTSC version listed at Amazon.com (where the film gets an average 4.5 stars from 21 reviewers - a much more sensible result).

Excellent and uplifting coming of age movie.

Refreshing theme of gay boy (Vincent) as role model for straight boy (Shane) who wants to "find his voice" and ends up, like Vincent, confidently pursuing his own creative ambitions.

Shane amply repays Vincent by his respect and support in a film which beautifully celebrates friendship.

"Cowboys and Angels," released in 2005, is a mild, pleasant little comedy-drama, a semi-autobiographical Irish coming of age tale if ever there was one. With a gay component. The film is set, unusually enough, in Limerick,-- yes, that Limerick-- a place we've seldom seen onscreen (save for the film Angela's Ashes of Frank Mc Court's novel, Angela's Ashes. And that film sure didn't make Limerick look like a pleasant place to be.) But the city looks much more presentable in COWBOYS AND ANGELS. The film stars Michael Legge, who played the teenaged Frank Mc Court in ANGELA'S ASHES, and may possibly, therefore, be Limerick's leading young actor, as Shane Butler, geeky suburban kid, dressed by Mom, come to town to work in a dull civil service job.

Interestingly enough, the film's written and directed by David Gleeson, who once worked in the exact same Department of Agriculture office, with some of the exact same people, as does his protaganist. At any rate, here we have young Shane fresh in the city, looking for affordable lodgings. He decides to room with Vincent Cusack (Allen Leech), a guy he knew in school, now attending the local art college, and a way out there gay wannabe fashion designer. Thence hangs the tale. Amy Shiels plays Gemma, Vincent's hot, close friend: Shane yearns in her direction, but he's too geeky for her to consider until taken in hand by Vincent. Frank Kelly turns in a touching performance as Jerry, an older worker in Shane's office, who doesn't realize until too late that it wasn't the best way to spend his time. There are some regrettable interludes where Shane gets into drug smuggling: but how else is he to pay, someone must have thought, for his new wardrobe, and his new directions in life?

As often happens in works about gays and straights, much more attention is paid to the love life problems of the straights, rather than the gays, but Vincent is respectfully treated. The film, by and large, covers familiar territory, but it did win five awards, and it's set in a part of the world we don't often see.