John Boorman's "The Tiger's Tail" - Movie Review

Liam O'Leary is having a bad life. An outsider examining him (Brendan Gleeson) would see a wealthy businessman married to a sexy wife (Kim Cattrall), with an ambitious, intellectual son living on a palatial estate. Of course appearances deceive. Upon further inspection, one finds a tycoon's business empire in dire financial jeopardy, an all but abandoned wife - especially in the bedroom - and a son who's passionate, communistic intellectualism threatens to rip asunder a delicate parent child dynamic. In writer director John Boorman's compelling drama, The Tiger's Tale, an outsider shows up in O'Leary's life, but does far more than just take a casual look.

Boorman, an English filmmaker known for such cinema classics as nightmarish Deliverance (Jon Voight) and the rousing Excalibur (Helen Mirren), entertains in top form here, as he weaves a fable mixing gritty familial drama, with harsh realities of modern Ireland's deeply depressed economy. The Tiger's Tail is a title which plays on Irish history. The term Celtic Tiger describes the emerald isle's rapid economic ascent of the 1990's, which came to a sobering crash in 2008. Boorman not only creates realistic characters we care about, but sets them within a social framework significant to the real Irish people. Unflinching shots of the disparity between well heeled Irish flush with economic fortune, and destitute homeless drowning their sorrows in cheap booze and vomiting their lives away is harrowing, but not gratuitous.

When Liam O'Leary's "double", clone or doppelganger shows up, few believe the increasingly haunted man. Gleeson's tough, but fleshy face and beefy, jumbo build works for him in spades. That such a hulk of a man could be frightened by anything - let alone flashes of a mere look alike - gives us an unsettling feeling he's not hallucinating. Gleeson's dual role here dazzles as a must see study in subtle acting. He never falls prey to easier dramatic tactics, or the cliches of exaggerating his physical movements, facial expressions or even voice when he's playing 'the other.' After O'Leary's sister (Sinead Cusack) reveals the truth, a heavy emotional price is paid by all. It's a believable complex revelation, and a true heart tugger.

Kim Cattrall (Sex In The City) plays the materially spoiled, but emotionally deprived wife freshly. The sexual playfulness celebrated by that HBO drama is present, but toned down enough for us to believe she's a middle aged Irish woman, who's insensitive husband has effectively worn away her libidinous joy. Gleeson's own real life son (Briain Gleeson) offers up a solid performance, and it doesn't hurt that there's a resemblance to his Dad.

The Tiger's Tale will interest anyone wanting great, novel quality drama. It may also intrigue history buffs or sociology students, to see a film against a backdrop which uses fiction to spotlight Irish history happening right now. John Boorman, and his excellent cast, has crafted a thoroughly satisfying film with real people, real humor and real tears - something not often found in many films these days, or for anytime really.