Angela's Ashes

• 1999
• UK
• 2h 28min
• 15

• Directed by: Alan Parker
• Cast: Emily Watson, Robert Carlyle, Michael Legge, Ciaran Owens, Joe Breen

Frank McCourt's Pulitzer Prize-winning childhood memoir of Limerick in the 30s is a publishing phenomenon, loved across the world by those with no connection to the book's three defining elements - Ireland, Catholicism and poverty. Parker can't establish the same level of engagement as McCourt does, but he can train his lens on the faces of his remarkable cast to show a texture of emotions. Sentiment here is a natural ingredient, not a saccharine additive.

• 73%
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