Home is where the art is

Gerard Hurley went back to his native West Cork to direct and star in the acclaimed new film The Pier, writes Pádraic Killeen

SET amidst the rugged beauty of West Cork’s famous peninsulas, new Irish film The Pier offers an unflinching yet compassionate look at the fraught relations between a grizzled elderly father and his returned emigrant son. Written and directed by Skibbereen native Gerard Hurley, it won plaudits at both the Galway Film Fleadh and Cork Film Festival in 2011, and it has also travelled well on the international festival circuit. It goes on national release this weekend, with a host of screenings taking place in the broader Cork area.

The narrative opens with Jack McCarthy (played by Hurley) returning home from New York, following news his father is on his death-bed. He is not best pleased to find the contrary auld fella up and about when he gets home, but without a penny to pay for a flight back to the States he is coaxed into sticking around to help his father recoup a few bad debts. From there a terse but moving rapprochement between the men unfolds.