X
- 2015
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 49 m
- 2015
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 49 m
Summary In 1921 Jimmy Gralton’s sin was to build a dance hall on a rural crossroads in an Ireland on the brink of Civil War. The Pearse-Connolly Hall was a place where young people could come to learn, to argue, to dream, but above all, to dance and have fun. As the hall grew in popularity its socialist and free-spirited reputation brought it to...
Directed By: Ken Loach
Written By: Paul Laverty, Donal O'Kelly
- 2015
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 49 m
- 2015
- PG-13
- Sony Pictures Classics
- 1 h 49 m
Jimmy's Hall
63
7.3
Where to Watch
Summary In 1921 Jimmy Gralton’s sin was to build a dance hall on a rural crossroads in an Ireland on the brink of Civil War. The Pearse-Connolly Hall was a place where young people could come to learn, to argue, to dream, but above all, to dance and have fun. As the hall grew in popularity its socialist and free-spirited reputation brought it to...
Directed By: Ken Loach
Written By: Paul Laverty, Donal O'Kelly
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
63
58% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
42% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 24 Critic Reviews
63
58% Positive
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
42% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
There's humanity here, on all sides, and a gentle wisdom beneath the raging rhetoric.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 15 User Ratings
7.3
53% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
47% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 15 User Ratings
7.3
53% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
47% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
I enjoyed the scenes of traditional Irish dance and the feel of community with the numerous locals getting together to make use of said hall. Of course there is a darker side to the story and it'd be fair to say its main theme is intolerance. There are scenes of violence depicted and I was a little squeamish on ocassion, thats not to say there's especially graphic, gorey scenes present (although some bloody injury is depicted in passing) but its more a case of what things represent, the metaphors at play, the social commentary aspect that I found sobering. Its worth a watch.
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Not the best type of movie I've ever seen from a Sony movie, but it could work as just a plain movie we'll probably see before then and after now. Most likely mixed reviews coming in from users.
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It’s just another solid Loach film, an affectionate realist portrait of individuals fighting against state and religious oppression. In this case the setting, as it was for his 2006 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner “The Wind That Shakes The Barley,” is Ireland.
As lovely as Jimmy’s Hall is, Paul Laverty’s script is not so much talky as speech-y. Some conversations play like bullet points about Irish politics and the iron grip of the Catholic Church.
The screenplay is vague not only about politics but also about the history of Jimmy’s unconsummated relationship with his former sweetheart, Oonagh (Simone Kirby), now married, whose wide Susan Sarandon eyes express a wistful sadness.
If this is, as he claims, indeed his last film (or at least last big narrative feature), he’s retiring with the courage of his convictions intact. If only he was expressing them more vigorously.
The characters of Jimmy's Hall aren't really characters as much as archetypes: the saintly mother, the sweetheart, the hero, the villain. This is the kind of film where people don't argue - they debate - speaking in lines from manifestos and creating an incongruity.
(Mauro Lanari)
Compared to today's situation, I imagine that Loach's orthodox Marxism is outdated and in need of a substantial upgrade. But some cornerstones have not changed: "I take it back, Father. You do listen [in the confessional], but only when we're on our knees." In the 2nd post-war period Bloch would have called this strenuous defense of human dignity "the orthopedics of the upright posture". Chilling also the phrase of the capitalist, convinced that he is the only true benefactor of humanity thanks to his philanthropy.
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A moderately inspiring tale of courage and conviction that, unfortunately, gets bogged down in excessive talkiness and a deluge of 20th Century Irish politics at the expense of character development and a cogent narrative. The overall effect is a film striving to make a point but never fully succeeding.
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Production Company
Sixteen Films,
Why Not Productions,
Wild Bunch,
Element Pictures,
British Film Institute (BFI),
Film4,
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board,
France 2 Cinéma,
Canal+,
Ciné+,
Le Pacte,
Les Films du Fleuve,
Longride,
France Télévisions,
MEDIA Programme of the European Union,
BFI's Film Found,
The Government of Ireland
Release Date Jul 3, 2015
Duration 1 h 49 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Where Anything Goes and Everyone Belongs
Awards
Irish Film and Television Awards
• 2 Nominations
Turia Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Political Film Society, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
