The Van (1996 film)

The Van is a 1996 film, based on the novel The Van (the third in The Barrytown Trilogy) by Roddy Doyle. Like The Snapper (1993), it was directed by Stephen Frears. (The first movie of the trilogy, The Commitments (1991), was directed by Alan Parker). It was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival.[2] The film stars Colm Meaney and Donal O'Kelly.

The Van
DVD cover
Directed byStephen Frears
Produced byLynda Myles
Mark Shivas
Written byRoddy Doyle
Starring
Music byEric Clapton
Richard Hartley
CinematographyOliver Stapleton
Edited byMick Audsley
Production
company
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release date
  • May 11, 1996 (1996-05-11) (Cannes)
  • November 29, 1996 (1996-11-29) (UK)
  • May 16, 1997 (1997-05-16) (United States)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryIreland
LanguageEnglish
Box office$712,095[1]

Plot

Brendan "Bimbo" Reeves gets laid off from his job as a baker in Barrytown, a working-class quarter of Dublin. With his redundancy cheque, he buys a van and sells fish and chips with his best mate, Larry. Due, in part, to Ireland's surprising success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their business starts off well.

However, the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo and his wife, Maggie, behave more and more like typical bosses. Larry believes that Maggie is the cause of the strained friendship, as he thinks she is pushing Bimbo away from him.

Then the van is closed down because of poor hygiene by health inspector Des O'Callaghan. Bimbo thinks that Larry told the Health Board about the van, leading to a fight between the two. Larry quits the job, despite Bimbo's best efforts to get him back.

Bimbo then drives the van into the sea, so as to win his friendship with Larry back.

Cast

Reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "When I saw The Van for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996, I felt it was the least of the three films, and I still do, but it was trimmed of about five minutes of footage after Cannes and, seeing it again a year later, I found it quicker and more alive. It is also the most thoughtful, in a way, and the ending has a poignancy and an unresolved quality that is just right: These disorganized lives would not fit into a neat ending.[3]

Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 38% based on reviews from 21 critics.[4]

References
  1. "The Van (1997)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  2. "Festival de Cannes: The Van". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  3. Ebert, Roger (June 27, 1997). "The Van". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  4. "The Van". Retrieved 12 May 2018.
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