A Film with Me in It

A Film With Me in It is a 2008 Irish film directed by Ian Fitzgibbon and written by Mark Doherty. The film is a black comedy that follows Mark (also Mark Doherty) and Pierce (Dylan Moran), an unsuccessful actor and a failing writer respectively, who find themselves trying to cope after a string of accidents surrounds them in corpses. The film generally received a positive response, and was released on DVD in October 2011.

A Film With Me in It
Theatrical release poster
Directed byIan Fitzgibbon
Produced byAlan Moloney
Susan Mullen
Written byMark Doherty
StarringDylan Moran
Mark Doherty
Amy Huberman
Keith Allen
Music byDenis Woods
CinematographySeamus Deasy
Edited byTony Cranstoun
Production
company
Parallel Films
Distributed byElement Pictures (Ireland)
IFC Films (United States)
Release date
12 July 2008 (Galway Film Fleadh)
17 October 2008 (Ireland)
Running time
83 minutes[1]
CountryIreland

Plot

Mark (Doherty) is an actor living in a basement flat below his writer friend Pierce (Moran). Residing with his girlfriend, Sally (Huberman), Mark struggles to find work whilst caring for his paralysed brother, David (O'Doherty). Desperate to avoid paying overdue rent, Mark continually eludes landlord Jack (Allen), meaning he is also unable to inform Jack of the flat's dilapidated state.

Discovering that Mark wasted money meant for the overdue rent, Sally finally decides to end her strained relationship with Mark, informs Jack of the repairs needed, and arranges to move out. The damaged state of the flat reaching its peak, Mark witnesses two consecutive freak accidents; a bookshelf falls and kills his dog, and the living room chandelier collapses and crushes David. Reeling in horror from the events, Mark looks on as Jack appears to repair a high lightbulb atop a wobbly stool, only to fall and pierce his throat with his screwdriver. Pierce then arrives and discovers the corpses, causing him to panic.

Hiding in the bathroom, Mark and Pierce plot to control the situation, only for Sally to return. Discovering David's body, Sally faints and impales herself on Mark's clarinet stand, killing her too. Realizing the absurdity of four consecutive, fatal accidents occurring in one place, Pierce concocts a plan to move Jack's body to an alternative location, as they both had a strong motive to murder him. Shooing Sally's father when he arrives, a police officer (O'Sullivan) then arrives due to an unrelated noise complaint, causing Pierce to panic and take her hostage.

Unable to kill the officer, the duo ties her up and attempts to reason with her. Left unattended, she attempts to escape through a faulty window, only for it to close and crush her head. Now surrounded by several corpses, Pierce finally formulates a plan; placing David, Sally, Jack, and the dog in his car, they drive it to a secluded area and cause it to explode, leaving minimal forensic evidence. Additionally, since three immediate deaths of Mark's acquaintances can place suspicion on him, Mark places his jewellery and clarinet on David's corpse, faking his own death.

Finally moving the officer to the neighbour's garden, Pierce fakes her death as caused by a falling plant pot. Cutting Mark's hair and dressing him as David, the two attempt to pass Mark as his disabled brother, and give Pierce an alibi as his carer in Mark's absence. A closing epilogue then shows Pierce has written a script based on the film's events, and is currently directing it whilst Mark continues to pass as David.

Cast
  • Mark Doherty as Mark, a struggling actor.
  • Dylan Moran as Pierce, an aspiring screenwriter and Mark's best friend.
  • Amy Huberman as Sally, Mark's long suffering girlfriend.
  • Keith Allen as Jack the landlord. Allen previously played a tenant who died unexpectedly in the film Shallow Grave.
  • Aisling O'Sullivan as a policewoman.
  • David O'Doherty as David, Mark's brother who was paralysed following a rugby accident. David and Mark are brothers in real life despite the different stage surnames.[2][3]
  • Ronan Wilmot as Sally's father.

Cameos by Irish director Neil Jordan, and actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Production

The film was shot in the Dublin 4 area.

Reception

Michael Dwyer of the Irish Times gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and described it as "Withnail & I reworked by Joe Orton". [4]

It was nominated for six Irish Film and Television Awards including Best Film, Best Actor (Dylan Moran) and Best Screenplay (Mark Doherty), but did not win, with the film Hunger winning in six of eight categories in which it was nominated.[5][6]

It won the Special Jury Prize at the 28th International Istanbul Film Festival in Turkey.[7]

References
  1. "A FILM WITH ME IN IT (15)". Element Pictures. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  2. "A Film With Me in It – Film Reviews – Film – Entertainment". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  3. "davidodoherty.com". davidodoherty.com. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  4. "Culture & Entertainment News". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986233/
  7. "'A Film With Me in It' Wins Jury Prize at Istanbul | The Irish Film & Television Network". Iftn.ie. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
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