Of the five short films contending for this year's Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, this is the only one in English. Even so, it was the only one I had a hard time understanding the dialog, as the others all had captioning, while this one was heavy on the Irish brogue. Nevertheless, it was apparent that a pair of estranged brothers had reunited upon the death of their mother, with Lorcan (James Martin), having Downs Syndrome, testily arguing with brother Turlough (Seamus O'Hara) over the fate of the family farm, which Turlough wants to sell. It's where Lorcan lives, so you can understand his reluctance. An effusive Father O'Shea (paddy Jenkins) tries to mediate between the brothers with mixed results, while Lorcan runs through a list of a hundred things his mom wanted to do before she died. All the while, Lorcan protectively hugs the cremation urn their mother's ashes are in, even wielding it as the pair work through a pattern of tai chi. In a semi-climax, Lorcan drops the urn from a considerable height with the ashes spilling out, as Turlough places a 'For Sale' sign on the family homestead shortly after. The film elicits mixed emotions, though the humor and affection between the brothers shines through their relentless bickering.

This Irish film is a contender for a 2023 Oscar in the category of Best Live Action Short Films. I was lucky enough to catch this short along with the four other contenders for this year's Academy Award at the Paramount Theater in Middletown, New York. If not for this limited showing, I don't know how else I would have been able to see it. So, Congratulations to the Paramount for making it available to enthusiastic cinema fans like me.

Paddy Jenkins ("Father O'Shea") acts well as the conduit here between two brothers who are unexpectedly reunited by the death of their mother. "Turlough" (Seamus O'Hara) has left Northern Ireland to work in Engand and when he returns, is set on selling the family home still lived in by his younger brother "Lorcan" who has Down Syndrome. As you'd expect, the humour here is dark ("is she still warm?") and the language quite ripe, but this has a wonderful honesty to it as the latter lad tries to work his way through a list of one hundred things their mum wanted to do before she died! There's some fun with an urn and some ti-chi, and they even go into space - well, sort of! Good fun with strong undercurrents of family, love and affection.

Seamus O'Hara returns to the family farm and his pugnacious brother James Martin. Their mother has died, and what are they to do with the acres.... and James. Before they do anything else, they agree to do the one hundred tasks on their mother's bucket list.

Difficult families are one of the basic tropes of good story-telling, from Oedipus Rex on, and this falls into that category, with some ill-tempered sullenness and awkward silences in between the increasingly odd and downright fanciful quests of the late old woman, poor woman.

And now I had better end this review before I begin to sound like Barry Fitzgerald in THE QUIET MAN.