The Toronto Film Festival is currently winding down in Canada, but a fair few films have managed to stand out during the festivities; including a couple starring our very own Colin Farrell. The Castleknock native has been making extremely left of centre choices of late, and it's really paying off in terms of the quality of his work. Since he starred opposite Brendan Gleeson in the brilliant In Bruges, Farrell has taken on two new roles which allowed him to use his native accent.
In Ondine, which is directed by fellow Dubliner Neil Jordan, he plays a fisherman who manages to pull a hot mermaid from the sea - giving a new meaning to the term "Deadliest Catch." Farrell has been garnering praise for his role in that, and Triage, where he portrays a war photographer, who returns home without his missing friend. The Hollywood Reporter was not over complimentary on Triage on the whole, but noted that Farrell gave a "deeply felt performance" for a role that required him to lose something like three stone. Variety chimed when giving a positive review if Ondine: "Farrell is first-rate as a man with a dicey past who decides the wind has shifted in his favour," before adding ". He's also splendid with young Barry, graciously allowing the newcomer to steal every scene she's in; captivating and terribly funny in her matter-of-fact display of Annie's bluntness, intelligence, nonchalant bravery and assertive certainty as to how things are, she gives one of the great kid performances of recent times." Well done to Alison Barry in her first film role. Variety don't hand out praise lightly.
Farrell has taken a lot of hits in the past, often for his public persona; but the man can act, and his performances are now speaking for themselves. Hopefully Triage and Ondine are picked up and given weighty releases by a distributor that believes in them
