Snakes and Ladders (1996 film)

Last updated

Snakes and Ladders
Directed by Trish McAdam
Written byTrish McAdam
Gina Moxley
Produced byLilyan Sievernich
Chris Sievernich (de)
Rudolf Wichmann
Larissa Bills [1]
Starring Sean Hughes
Pom Boyd
Gina Moxley
Rosaleen Linehan
Cinematography Dietrich Lohmann
Edited by Peter Przygodda
Music by Pierce Turner [2]
Release date
  • 1996 (1996)
Running time
93 minutes
CountriesIreland
United Kingdom
Germany
LanguageEnglish

Snakes and Ladders is a 1996 Irish comedy film directed by Trish McAdam.

Contents

Plot summary

Jean (Pom Boyd) and Kate (Gina Moxley) are two "nearing-thirty" best friends, who share a flat in contemporary Dublin and support themselves by working as street performers in the city. The two women do battle with the conflicting pressures of friendship, family, love and the struggle for success. The unsettled Jean has a major attitude problem, and while she rejects the older generation as represented by her interfering mother Nora (Rosaleen Linehan), she is also unable to fully embrace the alternative lifestyle of her boyfriend musician, Martin (Sean Hughes), her partner Kate and their gay friend Orla (Cathy White). Impulsively accepting a marriage proposal from Martin, she soon panics at the prospect of the wedding and sets in motion a chaotic series of events which affect all the characters' lives.

Cast

Reception

As described by the Irish Film Institute in their 2019 retrospective of the work of McAdam, the film "captures a strong sense of Dublin in the nineties as a city with a vibrant music, pub and club scene. Music plays a crucial role, with a fine score composed and performed by Pierce Turner, who plays the lead singer in Martin’s band. (There's also an amusing cameo appearance by Joe Dolan, singing Make Me an Island and You're Such a Good Looking Woman to the delight of members of The Dead Husbands Club). But the film is no fulsome celebration of great times. As the title itself implies, the game of life has its ups and down, with failures as well as successes. Dublin is now a city of youth, life and colour, says McAdam, but behind that colour the grey past still lingers. We may have moved on in recent years to new-found confidence, but behind that confidence the old basic everyday emotional problems will always be with us." [3] [4]

Variety magazine described the film thus: "a minor, harmless picture that lacks fresh angles or vigorous motivations to tell its tale (which also) suffers from an overinsistent determination to entertain and gratify its viewers at all costs." [5]

In Germany, the film was released as Zwei seriöse Damen in Dublin (Two Serious Ladies in Dublin). [6]

Funding

The film was funded by the Irish Film Board, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen and Miramax amongst others. [1]

Screening

The film was entered into the Sundance, London, San Sebastián and Toronto Film Festivals [1] and was selected for screening as part of the Irish Film Institute's Trish McAdam Season in May 2019. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Father Ted</i> British sitcom set in Ireland (1995–1998)

Father Ted is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May 1998, including a Christmas special, for a total of 25 episodes. It aired on Nine Network and ABC Television in Australia, and on TV2 in New Zealand.

<i>Dancing at Lughnasa</i> 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel

Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in County Donegal, Ireland in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator. He recounts the summer in his aunts' cottage when he was seven years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nora Barnacle</span> Muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce

Nora Barnacle was the muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce. Barnacle and Joyce had their first romantic outing in 1904 on a date celebrated worldwide as "Bloomsday" after his modernist novel Ulysses. Barnacle did not, however, enjoy the novel. Their sexually explicit letters have aroused much curiosity, especially as Joyce normally disapproved of coarse language, and they fetch high prices at auction. In 2004, an erotic letter from Joyce to Barnacle sold at Sotheby's for £240,800.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orla Brady</span> Irish actress (born 1961)

Orla Brady is an Irish actress born in Dublin. She has been nominated for several awards at the Irish Film & Television Academy. for which she won the 1999 Golden Nymph Best Actress Award for her work in A Love Divided. Other credits include Words Upon the Window Pane (1994), Out of the Blue (1995–1996), Noah's Ark (1997), Wuthering Heights (1998), The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999), The Luzhin Defence (2000), Family Law (2000–2002), 'Silent Grace (2001), Proof (2004–2005), Revelations (2005), How About You (2007), and 32A (2007), Mistresses (2008–2010), The Deep (2010), Fringe (2010–2012), Sinbad (2012), Eternal Law (2012), Jo (2013), The Price of Desire (2015), Banished (2015), American Odyssey (2015), Into the Badlands (2015–2019), The Foreigner (2017), A Girl from Mogadishu (2019), Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023), The Other Me (2022), and Freud's Last Session (2023).

Rosaleen Philomena Linehan is an Irish stage, screen and television actress.

<i>About Adam</i> 2001 film by Gerard Stembridge

About Adam is a 2000 romantic comedy film written and directed by Gerard Stembridge and starring Kate Hudson, Stuart Townsend, and Frances O'Connor. The plot focuses on the effect a seductive young man has on four siblings.

The Camogie All Star Awards are awarded each November to 15 players who have made outstanding contributions to the Irish stick and ball team sport of camogie in the 15 traditional positions on the field: goalkeeper, three full backs, three half-backs, two midfields, three half-forwards and three full-forwards. They were awarded for the first time in 2003 as an independent initiative sponsored by a hotel group and accorded official status by the Camogie Association in 2004.

<i>The Beauty Queen of Leenane</i> 1996 Irish comedy by Martin McDonagh

The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a 1996 dramatic play by Martin McDonagh which was premiered by the Druid Theatre Company in Galway, Ireland. It also enjoyed successful runs at London's West End, Broadway and Off-Broadway.

<i>32A</i> 2007 Irish film

32A is a 2007 Irish drama film directed and written by Marian Quinn. It was shot principally in Dublin, with additional footage in Roscommon and Sligo.

<i>Ulysses</i> (1967 film) 1967 Irish film

Ulysses is a 1967 drama film based on James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses. It concerns the meeting of two Irishmen, Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, in 1904 Dublin.

<i>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</i> (film) Film adaptation (1977) of James Joyces novel (1916)

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a 1977 film adaptation of Irish novelist James Joyce's 1916 novel of the same name, directed by Joseph Strick. It portrays the growth of consciousness of Joyce's semi-autobiographical character, Stephen Dedalus, as a boy and later as a university student in late nineteenth-century Dublin.

Gemma-Leah Devereux is an Irish actress. She is known for playing Liza Minnelli in the biographical drama film Judy (2019) opposite Renée Zellweger, and Lady Fitzgerald in the fourth and final season of the television series The Tudors (2010).

Saltwater is a 2000 Irish drama film written and directed by Conor McPherson. The film stars Peter McDonald, Brian Cox, Conor Mullen, Laurence Kinlan, Brendan Gleeson, Eva Birthistle and Paul Cooper. The film was released on 29 September 2000, by Buena Vista International.

Landmark Productions is a theatre production company in Dublin, Ireland. Established in 2003 by Anne Clarke, Landmark produces plays in Ireland and tours Irish work abroad. The company has an association with several Irish writers including Enda Walsh and Paul Howard, the creator of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. Recent award-winning productions include Enda Walsh’s Ballyturk and Arlington, Conall Morrison’s Woyzeck in Winter and the Donnacha Dennehy/Enda Walsh operas The Last Hotel and The Second Violinist.

<i>The Price of Desire</i> 2015 Belgian film

The Price of Desire is a 2015 Belgian-Irish biographical drama film directed by Mary McGuckian.

Trish McAdam is an Irish screen director.

Gina Moxley is an Irish playwright, director and actress. She is a member of Aosdána, an elite Irish association of artists.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "FILMS". trishmcadam.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  2. ↑ "SNAKES AND LADDERS". trishmcadam.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  3. ↑ "SNAKES AND LADDERS". ifi.ie . Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  4. ↑ "IRISH FOCUS: TRISH MCADAM – SNAKES AND LADDERS". ifi.ie . Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  5. ↑ Levy, Emanuel (21 October 1996). "Snakes and Ladders". variety.com . Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  6. ↑ "ZWEI SERIÖSE DAMEN IN DUBLIN". cinema.de. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.