Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Pavee Lackeen (2005)

Director: Perry Ogden

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

British photographer Perry Ogden spent several years snapping traveller-kids in Dublin’s Smithfield Market before deciding to translate the project into a film, which turns out to be an intimate documentary-style portrait of the Irish traveller community shot entirely on mini-DV. An encounter during his extensive research with Winnie Maughan, a gabby ten-year-old gave Ogden the inspiration and focus that he needed. He cast Winnie and several members of her immediate family – including mum Rose – as close versions of themselves (they keep their names) and wrote a script that draws on the Maughans’ experiences of living in a trailer on the edge of Dublin and encountering the sharp end of Irish bureaucracy.

Although ‘Pavee Lackeen’ suggests a culture in crisis, there’s nothing didactic or awkwardly anthropological about Ogden’s tender film. While he hints at problems faced by the traveller community, from decent housing to suitable education, his focus is Winnie. It’s her whom Ogden follows as she wanders about the local shops or applies make-up before a night out. He gives the Maughans much room for manoeuvre and allows them to riff freely on his script. As such, their dialogue is fresh and credible, and there’s a pleasing sense of vérité (Ogden cites as influences Alan Clarke and the Dardennes). There’s no real story as such, rather a series of loosely connected events that together offer a window on a way of life and Ogden’s admirable sympathy as a director.

Author: DC 2006-02-13 12:52:38

Time Out London Issue 1852: February 15-22 2006

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Pavee Lackeen

Cast & crew

Director: Perry Ogden

Producer: Perry Ogden

Cast: Winnie Maughan, Paddy Maughan, Rosie Maughan, Bonnie O'Brian, Mary Kate Maughan, James Maughan, Rose Maughan, Brian Dignam full cast

Genre(s): Drama

Duration: 88 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.