Brendan Gleeson’s Farewell To Hughes’ – Film Review
by Frank L

Directed by Ciaran O’Maonaigh

Hughes’s pub at the back of the Four Courts on Chancery Street, Dublin and abutting onto the Luas line is no longer operating as a public house. By reason of its location, it was an early house as it serviced the needs of those who worked in the nearby fruit and vegetable market and the fish market. At lunchtime, lawyers from the Four Courts and guards from the Bridewell provided a steady stream of customers for meat and two veg lunches. In the evening the space took on a different identity as a place where traditional Irish musicians and step-dancers could come together in a welcoming space to play and to dance for their own enjoyment. Michael Hughes and his wife Marie, who lived over this admirable ‘house’, were the unobtrusive proprietors who allowed it all to happen without impinging on the proceedings. It was hard work. When Michael died of a heart attack his son Martin, a fine classical flautist, took up the task but after a number of years for a variety of reasons he decided not to continue. That is an understandable decision.

Brendan Gleeson, who needs no introduction, was an aficionado of Hughes’ in the evenings. He was able to join a session and play his fiddle. He makes use of those skills in “The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022). Here he comes to pay tribute to Hughes’s pub, particularly to its evenings of traditional Irish music and dancing.

With the use of historical footage, the film shows the chaotic vibrancy of the surrounding area as produce was brought to the fruit market in precarious vehicles. They did not intimidate, unlike the gargantuan juggernauts of today. It visits the now redundant but still architecturally splendid fruit market but its concern is the musicians and the dancers who frequented Hughes’ as a home from home in the evenings.

The admirable Michael Hughes appears occasionally unobtrusively in the historical footage and his son Martin shows his dexterity as a flautist. But the film concentrates on its loyal customers who, to make this film,  came once again together to preserve for posterity the quiet magic of this haven for traditional musicians and dancers. They tell in a variety of interviews how much they loved it and how much they miss it. It was a place where the performers were the essence of the evening. However, it was Michael Hughes and his family that enabled them to have such a life-enhancing time. Of those performers, Brendan Gleeson is a man of considerable fame who also has the tradition of Irish music in his veins. Bearing that in mind the Irish Traditional Musical Archive approached him about a possible collaboration between them and this celebratory film of  Hughes’ is the result.

Brendan Gleeson found Hughes’ a place where he could return to his roots and recharge his batteries. Here he extols its worth. He honours it so all can appreciate its generous welcome and the pleasure it gave to so many who wanted to come together to make music and dance. The interviews with the various participators and their performance in the space add an affectionate depth. The film is both an endearing trip down a Dublin memory lane and a warm tribute to the vibrancy of traditional Irish music all imbued with the uplifting personality of Brendan Gleeson.