Despite its stock characters and familiar themes, "White Irish Drinkers" is a haunting rite-of-passage story, and fresh and original in its own way.
Set in a working-class Irish Catholic Brooklyn enclave in 1975, the story centers on 18-year-old Brian Leary (Nick Thurston), a closet artist who is an otherwise aimless young man. He kills time pulling off petty crimes with his tough elder brother Danny (Geoff Wigdor), working occasionally for the owner of a failing local movie house (Peter Riegert), and pursuing Shauna (Leslie Murphy), a classmate who is far more interested in having a career as a stewardess than becoming involved with Danny. In varying degrees everyone is entrapped and determined to escape the bleak confines of the limited resources, parochialism, and alcoholism that surround them.
The film is a fine example of ensemble acting in which everyone shines. Most impressive is Stephen Lang as the drunken and brutish patriarch, an anguished figure in turmoil. He is a mass of contradiction. Karen Allen is spot-on, this time tackling a loving wife-mother who believes in faith and tradition, yet is helpless to stop the unraveling of her family. Riegert brings a touch of pathos to Whitey, an affable con artist and gambler who is in debt to the mob. Wigdor is first-rate playing delinquent brother, abused son, and lost soul. Making her feature film debut, Murphy forges a convincing portrait of a young woman desperate to move on and awash in self-delusion.
As the movie's central character, Thurston is every bit the sensitive painter who adores and fears his brother and abhors his father. Brian also loves his mother, yet a certain disdain for her inability to get out is evident too. There are striking scenes in this film, not least a sexual romp between Brian and Shauna set in a cemetery. Obvious as the life-versus-death imagery may be—Eros, Thanatos, and all that—the sequence packs a wallop nonetheless. It also subtly foreshadows an event that takes place later in the film.
One assumes there are autobiographical recollections at play here, yet the film never feels confessional or heavy. It's a tribute to John Gray's ability as writer and director that the movie is such a nuanced and engaging work.
Genre: Drama
Written and directed by: John Gray
Starring: Peter Riegert, Karen Allen, Stephen Lang, Nick Thurston, Geoff Wigdor, Leslie Murphy.