By Joan Bolger

Black Irish is a coming of age south Boston movie about a schoolboy named Cole McKay (Michael Angarano) who is desperate to stay out of trouble, and in the absence of a meaningful father figure (Brendan Gleeson), keep his family on the straight and narrow.

It was screened recently at the 12th Avignon/ New York Film Festival at the Kaye Playhouse in Hunter College, as part of a five-day program of 46 films to showcase the work of up and coming directors.

The film stars Gleeson and is centered on the real life story of a close friend of the U.S. director Brad Gann, who spoke to the Irish Voice last week.

“He was from an Irish Catholic family in Queens and he would tell me these stories about things that had happened growing up there, and I was able to incorporate a lot of his family dynamic into this story,” said Gann.

Gleeson too, he said, was influential in directing the movie and ensuring it didn’t fall victim to the rigid constraints of a production schedule.

“Brendan was a creative partner and helped me hook into what was best for the project. He’d take me aside when I was experiencing production difficulties and give me some great insight,” Gann said.

“When you’re under the gun like that, it’s great to know that you have someone who has your back from a creative standpoint. I couldn’t thank him enough.”

The film opens with the distinct impression that things in this Southie Irish family are teetering on the brink of catastrophe. Cole’s young sister (Melissa Leo) is pregnant and about to be sent off to a convent boarding house where she can have her baby in a manner in keeping with both her mother’s narrow-mindedness and conscience.

U.S. actress Emily Van Camp is excellent in the role as a wronged Irish mother of three who is at odds to keep her family intact in spite of the voyeuristic thirst of her neighbors and the lethargy of her husband.

The story depicts the bleak scene of a depressed working class community with the pastimes of baseball and alcohol as the only respective sources of redemption and escape.

The hopelessness of the family’s situation could have engulfed the audience were it not for the crackling wit of the piece which has in its first two screenings (the first at the recent Hamptons Film Festival in New York) driven the audience to peals of laughter. Memorable scenes include one in which Gleeson takes it upon himself to provide a cryptic birds and the bees talk to his son ahead of his first date.

However, the dull charge of the film’s real intent is never out of reach. Cole’s older brother Terry (Tom Guiry) is a mean spirited thief with a penchant for violence and a local reputation that leaves his young brother exposed to the community’s suspicion and contempt.

At the core of this feature is the dilemma facing a boy who lacks a moral force — both in his own father and older brother — to look toward as he attempts to assert an identity in the mayhem of his adolescence.

The problem is not that Cole’s father does not exist, because he does, and in Gleeson is portrayed as a powerful figure crumbling under the weight of his own failure.

The question is whether that potential role model, who has long since given in to the inertia of alcoholism and allowed his wife’s embittered judgment to prevail about how their lives should be steered, can ultimately come through for him.

Cole is split by an allegiance to both his siblings and his parents and devotes himself — when he is not keeping the peace — to baseball, and a natural talent he discovers he may have inherited from his father.

The journey to that discovery is what makes Black Irish unique in its representation of a family that struggles to persevere, regardless of how flawed the result might be.

For more on the film, including theatres and showtimes, visit www.black irishmovie.com.