Tarrac – Film Review
by Frank L.

Director – Declan Recks
Writer – Eugene O’Brien
Stars – Lorcan Cranitch, Kelly Gough, Kate Nic Chonaonaigh

The action takes place in the Kerry Gaeltacht. Bear (Lorcan Cranitch) is a widower, who lives alone. He is recovering from a heart attack. His daughter Aoife (Kelly Gough), who fled Kerry after the death of her mother, returns home after a substantial absence to see how Bear is getting along. She enjoys a successful career. She meets up with a group of female pals in the pub. They are celebrating their surprise success in reaching the semi-final of the Naomhog Munster Cup. Aoife was a promising rower until her mother’s death. Jude the captain of the boat was a good friend of Aoife until her departure. She persuades her to join them and add her single-minded discipline to their efforts.

We then see the against-the-odds, sporting story of how this Naomhog team manage to get their act together and get into the final and what awaits them there. Meanwhile, Bear and Aoife begin to reconcile their differences and resentments arising from her mother’s death.  The rowing and the Munster Cup competition are a help in this endeavour as the deceased mother was a great rower and Bear has many fond memories of her prowess.

The work includes much of the magnificent Kerry coastal scenery. There are joyous sequences of the women diving in for a swim coupled with more stressful scenes as they try to master the art of rowing in unison. Alcohol plays quite a prominent role in helping everyone find enjoyment or solace. It is questionable however that Aoife given her self-discipline and sophistication would find poitin to her taste but that is a minor quibble.

Cranitch is entirely credible as the curmudgeonly father Bear who is now limited by ill health and who finds it difficult to understand why his daughter fled and left him alone. It has never dawned on him that his own behaviour might have been a contributing factor. Similarly, Kelly Gough captures the brittleness of Aoife, a woman who has made a career for herself in the city and is returning to her homeplace to face issues which up until now she has buried.

The film is a further Irish language film funded through the Cine 4 scheme.  It creates an enjoyable hour and a half in which to watch a group of women coming together to try to achieve the impossible while one of the group is attempting to understand and repair her relationship with her father. The challenge that each endeavour represents is magnified by the grandeur of the coastal scenery of Kerry. It provides a magnificent backdrop. Sit back and enjoy this feel-good movie.