The Commitments is a story about a
north side Dublin soul band.
The film is indeed a musical masterpiece, yet not without it's problems. Many of the actors were originally musicians with little or no previous acting experience and this became quite evident as the movie reached it's climax. Despite this, The Commitments is a hugely entertaining watch, especially if you've ever been to the north side of Dublin city and met the people. Keep an eye out for a young Andrea Corr ("Go and fucking' shite..."), comedian Sean Hughes, and for all the Star Wars fans: Bronagh Gallagher, the Commitmentette with the hair short is one of the pilots on the republic star ship in the opening scene of The Phantom Menace. She also plays the stoner on the couch in the drug dealer's house in Pulp Fiction.
After the film, some of the core members of the band stayed together and toured under the name "The Commitments" with occasional guest appearences from other members of the cast including Dave Finnegan (Mickah "Don't Fuck With Me" Wallace) and Johnny Murphy (Joey "The Lips" Fagan). They have enjoyed a considerable amount of international fame and recognition.
Others went on to achieve even greater success with Andrew Strong ("Deco Cuffe") acquiring international fame as a solo singer, Glen Hansard went on to front The Frames D.C. to enormous success in Ireland and abroad (they are amazing live) and Andrea Corr, as we all know, is currently wallowing in superstardom, although she did manage to find time in between now and then to pour pints for me as a bar girl in Dundalk.
A sequel to The Commitments has been announced without the direction of Alan Parker and is rumoured to feature The Corrs heavily. Personally, I don't think this will work for the following reasons:
For more information see:
- www.thecommitments.net
- http://us.imdb.com/Title?0101605
- www.andrewstrong.com
- www.theframes.ie