The Butcher Boy (1997)

A well-directed, well-acted, repulsive, unredeemed film
This film is well-done from every technical viewpoint. The direction is good, the acting is solid, the writing is crisp, the cinematography is near perfect.

The problem is the subject matter--children behaving very, very badly, and the reasons why--which is at first annoying, then repellent, and finally reaches the point of complete savagery. It's not "dark"; it's self-indulgently nihilistic and brutal. We're supposed to understand and even empathize with the main character's descent into the depths, but the movie just seems to revel in it. There's no redemption, no change, nothing to reward the time spent witnessing the vile results of this one character's selfish destructiveness (having an alcoholic father and a depressed mother doesn't remotely excuse or even explain the things he does).

The film really has to work to enable him to get away with it, also. Nobody, neither adults nor other kids, are capable of besting this little monster physically, which is thoroughly unbelievable. Whether or not you believe in corporal punishment (I don't), if you watch this film you'll be aching to see just one person properly knock the snot out of this brat.

There are films about awful behavior that are more artistically successful and give you far more to think about in payment for the extreme unpleasantness--A Clockwork Orange (one of my all-time favorites) and In the Company of Men spring to mind. This movie is nowhere near that league; it's almost-entirely unredeemed sadism. Spare yourself the trip through the gutter and watch one of those films instead.

[ One side note: this film is billed as "dark comedy", but it's not funny (and that doesn't really seem like what it was trying for). The patter from the beast is amusing, and the rhythms of Irish speech are captured well, but there's very little here that merits the term "comedy"--dark or otherwise. I don't consider this a strike against the film; my impression is that it was just the result of marketing people trying to portray it as something it's not. ]

The Butcher Boy
Based on the novel by Patrick McCabe, "Butcher Boy" is the blackest of black comedies, and unlike anything you've seen. Stephen Rea is effective as always playing Francie's drunken father, but it's Eamonn Owens's stunning portrayal of one very troubled kid that stays with you. (Owens was plucked out of 2,000 child actors to assume the role.) Though the film is undeniably bleak, Jordan's magic camera and storytelling gifts transcend this darkest of subjects, creating a strangely hypnotic work of unexpected wonder and rewards.

Neil Jordan's brilliant, overlooked gem.
The Butcher Boy (Neil Jordan, 1999)

Neil Jordan has always struck me as having a thing for deep, meaningful pictures that are, in general, neither terribly deep nor terribly meaningful. The Butcher Boy is the exact opposite of everything Jordan usually does, and almost by definition, it packs more of a punch in the deep-and-meaningful department than anything Jordan's done to date. Needless to say, it went entirely unnoticed in the States. I strongly suggest you rectify that as soon as possible.

The Butcher Boy himself is Francie (Eamonn Owens), a rowdy kid who, as we open, is on the verge of descending into a life of petty crime. His best friend, Joe (Alan Boyle), does his level best to keep Francie on the straight and narrow, but as is usually the case, Francie's particular brand of temptation usually wins out, and the two find themselves forever getting into scrapes. More and more, these revolve around Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw), the town busybody, who really does have it in for Francie. It doesn't help that Francie's home life is the very definition of dysfunctional, nor that the town's old ladies are so willing to fall for his charms. Eventually, though, things come to a head, and the inevitable chaos results. From there, however, it's quite a bit farther to the ultimate ending of this tale (of which we get a taste in the film's opening scene), and if anything, Jordan's depiction of Francie after the decline and fall is even better than his depiction of the rise. This is where we find out that Francie is not just a kid we can laugh at, but one we can empathize with. (And if you're not cheering when the bad guy ends up getting hers, well then, you probably weren't meant for this movie in the first place.)

I loved this movie far more than I expected to. Highly recommended, even (perhaps especially) for those who've always found Jordan an overblown windbag who takes himself too seriously in the past. ****