Peter Chelsom directs Adrian Dunbar, Tara Fitzgerald and Ned Beatty in this Anglo-Irish tale of a untrustworthy nightclub owner who wants to book a long exiled singer to revive his cabaret’s fortunes.

An unjustly forgotten slice of whimsy that charms the damn pants of you. This is really unpredictable, featuring full frontal nudity, a road trip around Ireland, a gold-plated bastard in the lead and some real implied darkness. Yet it is the sweetest thing I’ve seen in a long while. Deserves to be rediscovered, I promise you you’ll never believe what a strange mixture it is of Gilliam, Sheridan, Frears, Jordan and Damien Chazelle. And by that I mean, like nothing else. This was made in that weird little strip of time between Scandal and Shallow Grave where very few British films were funded and released unless they were overly worthy (Howard’s End, In the Name of the Father) or cravenly banal (Carry On Columbus, Splitting Heirs). So it is fascinating to see what freedom was granted to this one, a hardy little survivor that fell through the cracks and somehow made it to cinemas.

8

Perfect Double Bill: Sirens (1994)

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We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/