'Wild Mountain Thyme' trailer misses the mark - but sparks wider conversation

The trailer for the Midlands-set romance has evoked derision - but also given rise to ideas of how things can be better for Irish film

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Last night, the trailer emerged on social media for Bleecker Street Films' Wild Mountain Thyme feature. Frankly, the reaction closer to home has quickly eclipsed that of the international audience at whom it seems to be squarely aimed.

Set in 2005, the romance, based on John Patrick Shanley's Broadway stage play Outside Mullingar, itself the subject of critical derision, is an age-old tale: a comely maiden is torn between slow-burning, star-crossed love amid the comforts of home in rural Ireland, and the allure of the brave new world of America, while a battle of wills between families over land underpins local tensions. Like The Field meets Brooklyn, but apparently set in the present.