This Is My Father . The Boston Phoenix . 05-17-99

This Is My Father

DIRECTED BY: Paul Quinn

REVIEWED: 05-17-99

Paul Quinn's film resonates as a sincere, heartfelt effort, even if the Gaelic-American tale rides long and complex. James Caan is gruffly resilient as frustrated schoolteacher Kieran, who after a chance discovery sets off for Ireland to trace the identity of the father he has never known and get a new lease on life. As a favor to his sister, he takes along his peevish, likewise unsettled nephew Jack (Jacob Tierney), and together they journey to a remote Irish village, where they unearth the story of their lineage and in the process experience life-affirming epiphanies.

But This Is My Father is less about Kieran's spiritual odyssey than it is about his father's romantic quest. As sputtered in flashback segments by an old Gypsy innkeeper, Kieran learns that dad (a thick-necked Aidan Quinn) was a poor sod farmer involved in a "Romeo and Juliet" love affair with the fiery daughter (a sparkling Moya Farrelly) of his landowner (an angular Gina Moxley as the bitter widow Flynn). Tragedy, romance, and realization lie at each toggle of the story's chronology-hopping framework, and though the craftsmanship is at times stunning, there's too much going on across time and distance. The amazing ensemble cast also includes John Cusack, Brendan Gleeson, Colm Meaney, Stephen Rea, and Pete Postlethwaite.

--Tom Meek

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