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Angela's Ashes

1999

Alan Parker

Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Joe Breen, Clara Owens ...

6.9

9,433

Drama Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"The film is so faithful to the content of the book that it reproduces scenes that have already formed in my imagination (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy Variety	"[It] artfully evokes the physical realities of Irish poverty, but mostly misses the humor, lyricism and emotional charge of Frank McCourt's magical and magnificent memoir."	NEU
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"[It] isn't wrenching enough to do it justice. The family's suffering, like the carefully mottled paint on supposedly run-down walls, is curiously unreal.	NEG
United States	Rita Kempley The Washington Post	"McCourt rose from his mother's ashes a phoenix, but Parker pulled out all the finest feathers."	POS
United Kingdom	William Thomas Empire	"Superb performances alone can't quite hold this biopic together, but it's beautifully told nonetheless (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Mick LaSalle SFGATE	"[It] doesn't work as entertainment, and since it doesn't cure anything, it can't qualify as medicine, either."	NEG
United States	Maitland McDonagh TV Guide	"Meticulous, unsentimental, [and] beautifully acted"	POS

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