Review of Evelyn (2002) by Mloy X — 22 Jun 2014

Michael Beattie (Stephen Rea): To fight church and state is to fight Goliath.

Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan): Yeah, well, David beat Goliath in the book I read.

What a moving film about a dad who just wants to be reunited with his children, taken from him by system over some antiquated Irish law regarding the family unit. Pierce Brosnan (Desmond Doyle)was alright, Stphen Rea (Michael Beattie) was wonderful as usual but the highlight of this film was little Sophie Vavasseur who plays the title character Evelyn, Desmond's only daughter and eldest child of three siblings. She was superb, acted so naturally and beautifully that she was very credible and on top of it all she didn't need to act all cutesy to garner praise because she acted well beyond her years with such conviction, she truly sold it. The story was engaging and truly baffling in my American ways; I understand it is ideal to have a complete and traditional family unit: father, mother and children, but in the Doyle's case, it wasn't entirely their fault that they no longer had a mother and the father was willing to look after them. Why would should they be torn apart? Although, one would also argue that the system being the way it is, helped Desmond Doyle become a better father for his children. This was really a pretty good film to watch, not all heavy though; a good bit of lighthearted scenes to balance the serious parts. Well acted, well delivered. Overall, a pretty interesting film.