It’s Fall. It is almost Fall. Autumn approaches. Well, maybe not, weather-wise, but there is a crisp feel to the air in the world of Byrne this September!

Carrie Pilby in Toronto

Twitter is a very handy tool for following an event you cannot attend. The premiere and subsequent screenings of Carrie Pilby at the Toronto International Film Festival were tweeted to the max, with pics and reactions galore! Reviews are coming in from all the likely sources (The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and The Guardian), but the best review for OUR purposes is from Matt Fagerholm at Roger Ebert.com, and I quote:

Yet for every scene that doesn’t work, there is one that does. Rather than hastily pair Carrie with her love interest, the film provides us with a leisurely “Before Sunrise”-esque shot of the couple strolling down the sidewalk, giving the actors time to play off one another in a way that feels organic. I wish there were more scenes between her and Byrne, who has easily the film’s finest few minutes, as he stands up to Carrie’s loathsome professor. It’s crowd-pleasing in the most formulaic sense, yet Byrne lends authority to each line, and the sardonic way he spouts, “Happy Christmas!”, suggests that he would make a great Scrooge.

Our Byrneholic at the event, Kristen Skeet, filed this brief report:

Gabriel was so handsome. Shocking, I know. He had his Quirke haircut in the first scene he’s in, and that isn’t my favorite style on him, but by the second scene it had grown out. He and Bel Powley were great together as father/daughter. She’s someone who can match his intelligence. He plays a British guy and he completely eliminates his Irish accent for it. He first appears on screen through the phone. If I didn’t know it was Gabriel playing her dad I might not have realized it was him! His accent in this reminded me of Just a Sigh, though it’s a bit haughtier in Carrie Pilby.

Her full review of Carrie Pilby is on the way, so stay tuned!

This appears to be the official poster:carrie-pilby-poster-new-02

We are looking forward to a release in the US at some future date. This film has to find a distributor: it just sounds too good!

Gabriel Byrne: Stories From Home

Stories From Home, the 2008 Gabriel Byrne documentary directed by Pat Collins, is screening at the New York Irish Center in Long Island City on Friday, September 16. Here’s what they have to say about it:

Over the last 30 years, Gabriel Byrne has established himself as one of the leading actors of his generation. Stories from Home is a revealing and evocative insight into Byrne’s life. Blending home movie films and contemporary footage, it’s an intimate profile, emanating from the man himself and giving the viewer a rare insight into Byrne’s private and public world.

It is wonderful to see this brilliant film still being made available to fans!

gbstoriesad

Ireland’s Biggest Coffee Morning for Hospice

Gabriel Byrne is a big supporter of Hospice services in Ireland and this event is a great example of his activism.

The event is scheduled for Thursday, September 15 and is one of the biggest fund-raisers of the year.

Contributions are used for a variety of services and activities centering on hospice care throughout the country.

Since inception over 24 years ago, this annual fundraiser that takes place in towns and villages all across Ireland has raised over €32,000,000! That is an incredible and life changing amount supporting hospice care all across Ireland.

gb-irish-hospice-coffee-morning-20160915Endless Night in Australia

It’s melting! It’s melting! No, not really. Endless Night, Isabel Coixet’s Arctic rumination on love, loss, and frozen landscapes, is screening in Australia now. Reviews of the re-edited film have been mixed, to be sure, but we do not care. We just want to see the darned thing for ourselves! I mention it here to keep hope alive. Plus I discovered a great new header image for it, which I intend to use someday…

endless-night-header

Mad to Be Normal

No real news about the film to report yet, but posters! Unofficial posters that seem to glow in the dark. Don’t you love them? Some of them may turn out to be official. In the meantime, enjoy!

mad-to-be-normal-poster-collage-20160914-02

Ireland’s Great Hunger  and the Irish Diaspora: Documentary

Thanks to Sarah R., we have a link to the full documentary, narrated by Gabriel Byrne. The video cannot be embedded here, so check it out on Vimeo!

irish-famine-documentary-byrneing-news-flash-featured-image-20151009

The Centennial of the New York Public Library

How did we miss this? Thanks again to SarahR, here is a photograph of Gabriel Byrne, celebrating the Centennial of the New York Public Library, one of the great libraries of the world, back in 2011. The photo is by Beowulf Sheehan and you can view all of the images he made for the celebration at his website.

gb-nypl-centennial-2011-sarahrGabriel Byrne,
with Berenice Abbott’s portrait of James Joyce, 1928

Jon Polito

Another bright light in the acting world has gone out. Jon Polito, whom we know best here at Byrneholics for his brilliant turn in Miller’s Crossing, died on September 1, 2016, at the age of 65.

A prolific artist in film and television, he will be remembered for many roles, but I think especially for his portrayal of Johnny Caspar in Miller’s Crossing, the “mustached, balding, husky and burlap-voiced” gangster who hated being given “the high hat” and who had a philosophy all his own:

I’m talkin’ about friendship. I’m talkin’ about character. I’m talkin’ about–hell, Leo, I ain’t embarrassed to use the word–I’m talkin’ about ethics.

And I’m talkin’ about Jon Polito. As I tweeted on the day: RIP Jon Polito. There is no “high hat” in Heaven.

johnny-caspar-millers-crossing

So that’s the Byrne-ing News for September. Gabriel has four films in the pipeline (Carrie Pilby, No Pay, Nudity, Lies We Tell, and Mad to be Normal) and more projects on the burner, I am sure. Which one of his new films are you anticipating the most?! Tell us!

There will be more news soon, no doubt about it!

In the meantime, enjoy this autumnal wallpaper:

gbgoldlightwallpaper

Many thanks to contributors Kristen and SarahR! heart

5 Comments

  1. Thank you for these. You keep my fires byrning for Gabriel

  2. So much to watch for. The documentary on the Great Hunger is very informative . It is moving to see and listen to the descendants of those forced to flee Ireland and the political reasons behind the exodus.
    RIP Jon Polito.

  3. DORA BARALIA

    I HAVE SEEN THAT GABRIEL IS A GREAT FIGHTER FOR HIS COUNTRY IN VERY DIFFERENTS WAYS. I ADMIRE HIM SO MUCH FOR ALL THAT. MANY PEOPLES IN THE WORLD MUST DO IT FOR THEIR COUNTRIES. THANKS FOR HIS PICS ARE EXCELLENT. MY BEST WISHES …

  4. Check out http://www.juliettebinoche.net posting on Endless Night for featurette, trailers, stills and much more about this intriguing film. You won’t be disappointed…

    I’m very disappointed that this film never had a North American theatrical release.

    Angelle

    • Yes, Angelle, the Juliette Binoche website got their hands on some great content for Endless Night. Thanks for the reminder!

      The film may yet make its way to North America. Or at least to DVD. We must be patient. Everything becomes available EVENTUALLY, in my experience. ;-)
      <3

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