Film review: The Disappearance of Finbar (1996), directed by Sue Clayton

Reviewed: 11 March 2004
Summary: Nice scenery doesn’t make up for the lack of a plot

A film said to be Irish-English-Swedish was enough to make me watch it when it was on TV, but I must say I’m disappointed. The film starts out in Ireland. Finbar disappears, then half the film goes by, and then suddenly Finbar decides to phone up his old friend Danny, telling him he’s in Sweden. If the film was half-interesting and believable in the beginning, after Danny goes to Sweden, it becomes decreasingly interesting and decreasingly believable.

The scenery is really nice (even though I’m personally not keen on the north of Sweden because of all the snow and the freezing cold), but lovely nature pictures of it doesn’t make up for the complete lack of anything resembling a proper plot. It’s far too weak! Why did Danny go all that way and through all that trouble to search for Finbar, when Finbar was a completely selfish prat who no one in their right mind could really care about (let alone the audience!) – which we learn from the first five minutes of the film? The story’s so full of plot holes it could compete with a Swiss cheese!

The only good thing about it, apart from the scenery pictures, is the Irish accent, and a chance to recognise some people who were in Michael Collins, plus Lorraine Pilkington (Monarch of the Glen). That’s about it. Sure, you can watch this film if you’ve got nothing better to do, but you’d be better off watching something else.