The Queen of Ireland (15A) ****
"I always felt like a square peg in a Ballinrobe-shaped hole," says Rory O'Neill of growing up gay in a small Irish town. It's a remark that will resonate with a great number of Irish families. But while The Queen of Ireland charts how his alter ego Panti Bliss went international and took the world by storm, this film is firmly rooted in home and identity.
It makes perfect sense that director Conor Horgan uses Ballinrobe to bookend this wonderful film. It's the hometown Rory has mixed feelings about - and the place where Panti is embraced when she returns following the passing of the marriage equality referendum.
It’s every bit as funny and cartoonishly colourful as Panti herself. But Horgan and has team have moved beyond a mere character portrait - still, what a character - to give us an informative history of the battle for equality in the gay community in Ireland.
The documentary charts the recent history of gay issues in Ireland, including David Norris’s fight for homosexuality to be decriminalised, the murder of Declan Flynn in Dublin’s Fairview Park and subsequent growth of the Pride movement.
Then we're introduced to Panti, a blend of Farrah Fawcett and a glamorous aunt from Rory's childhood, when she is created originally as part of the drag scene in Tokyo.
O'Neill and Panti eventually return home, where he sets up Panti Bar in Dublin and sets up the Alternative Miss Ireland - or as it's better known, 'Gay Christmas'.
But it's in the second half of the film, when we revisit Panti Gate and the build up to this summer's referendum, that The Queen of Ireland becomes truly powerful and affecting.
It builds to a rousing finale, as we see the referendum celebrations in Dublin and O’Neill’s return to his home town of Ballinrobe for Panti’s first show there. It's a funny, charming and touching film, as colourful, cheeky and witty as Panti herself.
Mississipi Grind (15A) ***
Ben Mendelsohn has been stealing movies in support for many years now - he recent held his own as the damaged father of Jack O'Connell's violent young inmate in the terrific Starred Up. So it's great to see him front and centre in this drama about a gambling addict.
He and actor Ryan Reynolds make a delightfully odd combination in this indie buddy film - a good thing, as the movie struggles with pacing and an overfamiliar storyline.
Mendelsohn is Gerry, a talented poker player with a gambling habit that means he doesn’t know when to walk away from the table.
It's already cost him his marriage, access to his child and his financial security. When he meets the charismatic but more controlled gambler Curtis (Reynolds) the two strike up an instant connection. But Curtis is initially unaware of the personal crises his new friend is facing.
He’s got his own problems - including the risk of losing his on/off girlfriend Simone (Sienna Miller) to another man.
The two leads deliver but the story feels too bland to truly resonate and it is primarily thanks to the cast that you become invested in Gerry, the consuming nature of his addiction and his fate.
