the audience applauded

A different way of telling a story

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

From director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Michael Collins, The Brave One), this Irish film used to be listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I was certainly hoping it deserved that placement. Basically set in Ireland in the early 1960s, in the small town of Clones, twelve year old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens) is an imaginative boy who loves comic books, movies and television, and these fuel his interest in aliens, communism and the Atomic Age. Francie's mother Annie aka Ma (Aisling O'Sullivan) is a manic depressive, and suffering a nervous breakdown commits suicide, Francie is left in the care of his emotionally distant and ill-tempered alcoholic father Benny aka Da (Stephen Rea), and to get away Francie spends most of his time with his best friend Joe Purcell (Alan Boyle). More despair follows when Joe is sent to boarding school, and then he starts having conflicts with the neighbours, another boy, Phillip Nugent (Andrew Fullerton) and his nasty mother Mrs. Nugent (Harry Potter's Fiona Shaw), this friction was spawned from some form of paranoia. He finds work in the local abattoir which helps him earn some needed money, but then his father dies after drinking himself to death, the continuing argument goes to the point when Francie's condition has worsened with more bizarre behaviour, and he goes too far and murders Mrs. Nugent, who he blamed for all things going wrong. Francie is sent by the authorities to an asylum to attempt to help him recover and return to reality, but this is difficult as he cannot help but have fantasies and conversations with the spirit of a foul-mouthed Virgin Mary (singer Sinéad O'Connor), he is molested by priest Father Sullivan (Milo O'Shea), and the town will probably never forgive him following his shocking brutality. Also starring Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's Ian Hart as Uncle Alo, Father Ted's Ardal O'Hanlon as Mr. Purcell, Alan Boyle as Joe Purcell, Niall Buggy as Father Dom, Brendan Gleeson as Father Bubbles and Never Mind the Buzzcocks's Sean Hughes as Psychiatrist #1. As the young boy near adolescence Owens gives a brilliant performance, and the performances of Rea and O'Connor add to it also, this is film full of both darkness and surrealism as the first mischievous child working in a slaughterhouse has his world slowly crumbling around him and his mental state deteriorates, but there are moments to make you laugh too, I admit some bits were slow, but overall I found it a most interesting black comedy drama. Very good!

I'd be lying if I claimed that the original reason I saw this wasn't anything as simple and basic as curiosity... the plot simply sounds so bizarre that one can't help but wonder about the movie itself. The movie is a wonderful mix of surrealism, drama and black comedy. As another reviewer points out, the accents may make the dialog a little hard to make out... I was fortunate enough to have subtitles(as any Dane will tell you, we get subtitles on everything that is presented to us on a screen), but I think most anyone who has a good enough grasp on the English language(and a good ear wouldn't hurt) will be able to understand, at the very least, enough of it to follow what's going on. The film is quite disturbing... it's told by a psychotic, and everything is seen from his point of view, making the line between truth and fantasy blur. The narrative is impressive, underplaying some scenes to great effect. The plot is interesting. The pacing is a tad uneven... while most of the film moves as it should, not too fast nor too slow, there are parts where it seems to come to a complete halt. Luckily, these parts are few and far between. The characters are well-written and credible. They are also all competently portrayed. The acting... wow. What can I say? Eamonn Owens is nothing short of an artist. As you watch the film(which I hope you will), observe his eyes... look into them, as he looks around menacingly, and tell me that you don't feel fear. Pure fear. One is reminded of Donald Pleasence's marvelous monologue about Michael Myers' eyes(in Halloween, for the uninitiated). That stare... if I ever met Owens in real life, I doubt I'd dare look him in the eye. Even more impressively, this was his debut performance. I'll have to watch more of his movies, to see if he can pull off other roles as well, but he certainly nailed this one. Stephen Rea was great... I've seen him in nothing else, but I could recognize his face from the trailers for V for Vendetta, a movie I'm looking forward to(even more now that I know he will grace the film with what is sure to be just as astounding a performance as he gave here), even though I'm sure it won't live up to Alan Moore's graphic novel. Sinéad O'Connor was a blast(and seemed to be having one, as well) as Our Lady. I haven't been able to find out who portrayed the main character as an adult, but let me tell you, his voice acting is grand. The narration definitely adds to the film, both in use and in acting. The writing is great. The whole film is highly entertaining and very poignant. This should be seen by just about anyone who can live with(and more importantly, understand) the language and take the disturbing nature of the film. I recommend this to anyone who is afraid of neither accents nor the disturbing images contained herein. Very funny and quite unsettling. 8/10

I tried to watch this movie on video, and could understand only about half of the dialog, which for the most part is spoken at a fast pace in thick Irish accents.However, it has been praised by many people, and I can accept that it is an excellent film. The setting is convincing, the acting is certainly good, especially that of the young actor in the title role, and one can always rely on Stehen Rea and Fiona Shaw, who like a true professional, manages to speak her lines so that the words come out clearly, yet without sacrificing the Irish brogue.I would advise anyone wanting to see it to hire it on DVD, with English subtitles.

I don't understand how this movie is so unknown by most of the people.Simply put, this is an amazing film. Eamonn Owens' performance is just unbelievable.There are some serious and sensitives themes in this movie (murder, suicidal thoughts, alcoholism, child abuse, religion) however it's not a disturbing movie (it has its moments though). The reason for the lack of disturbance in this film is because we're seeing everything from the perspective of a little boy.The Butcher Boy is, for sure, one of the best dark comedies/dramas that I've seen. Highly recommendable.