Jim Sheridan makes family dramas in which affection need not make anyone easier to live with. We value his work with actors, especially Daniel Day-Lewis, though his determination to move us can become too obvious.
Fi1m perspective
Gerry Conlon can be difficult company, and Jim Sheridan lets him stay that way. In In the Name of the Father (1993), Daniel Day-Lewis plays a son whose failings do not disappear simply because the story gives us reason to take his side. We were moved by the strain between Gerry and his father, played by Pete Postlethwaite, because Sheridan allows affection and resentment to coexist. That is where we most value him: directing actors who can make family loyalty feel difficult.
His first feature, My Left Foot (1989), began his collaboration with Day-Lewis. The Field (1990) explored land, tradition and obsession in rural Ireland, while The Boxer (1997) was the third Sheridan film to feature Day-Lewis. Families under strain recur through the work, against Irish history or the immigrant experience. Sheridan invites suggestions from actors and crew, an approach that makes sense alongside his tolerance for Gerry’s rough edges. We value the space he gives Day-Lewis to make an awkward man worth caring about without making him agreeable.
The writing is where our reservations begin. In In the Name of the Father, Sheridan and co-writer Terry George sometimes shape events too firmly towards the desired emotional response. We wanted more of the uncertainty that comes with people who do not fit neatly into a story. Yet Gerry remains a son with failings, and that stops the film becoming merely a demand for sympathy. Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite give us ample reason to feel something without being pushed.
In America (2003) carried those family concerns into a semi-autobiographical story of Irish immigrants in New York. The Hollywood projects that followed included Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2005), Brothers (2009) and Dream House (2011), and drew more mixed reviews than the earlier Irish films. We would not use that uneven reception as a reason to pass over the earlier work. Start with In the Name of the Father for Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite, and allow for a director who sometimes presses harder than he needs to.
Biography
Jim Sheridan is an Irish film director, screenwriter and producer. Born in Dublin on 6 February 1949, he began in theatre, studying at University College Dublin and later at New York University, where he became artistic director of the Irish Arts Center. He returned to Ireland in the late 1980s.
Sheridan wrote and directed My Left Foot (1989) and The Field (1990). He wrote, directed and produced In the Name of the Father (1993), which received seven Academy Award nominations, including for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Subsequent films include The Boxer (1997), In America (2003) and Brothers (2009). He has received six Academy Award nominations in total.
