Dancing at Lughnasa

Perhaps it's a pity for those great acting performances and the pleasant atmosphere to be wasted on such ordinary and boring script. The Scottish scenery pulls a lot of weight and the music is top-notch, but there are clichés at every turn. The cast is very strong, with Meryl Streep being true leading personality. It needed a faster plot and especially more dynamism, but we're not in Hollywood and I respect that. It's not exactly moving, you can feel some vitality. This is a film that will probably captivate only a certain part of the audience spectrum – older viewers – but this does not in the least detract from its qualities. The problem was rather with me. (19.02.2006)