Best Irish Movies
My definition of Irish movies for this list: Movies about people from Ireland. This can either be set in Ireland or elsewhere, and made by Irish people or others.
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- DirectorJim SheridanStarsPaddy ConsidineSamantha MortonDjimon HounsouA family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsCillian MurphyPádraic DelaneyLiam CunninghamAgainst the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneMaureen O'HaraBarry FitzgeraldA retired American boxer returns to the village of his birth in 1920s Ireland, where he falls for a spirited redhead whose brother is contemptuous of their union.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsLiam NeesonAidan QuinnJulia RobertsNeil Jordan's historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
- DirectorTomm MooreNora TwomeyStarsEvan McGuireBrendan GleesonMick LallyA young boy in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids is beckoned to adventure when a celebrated master illuminator arrives with an ancient book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers.
- DirectorJohn Michael McDonaghStarsBrendan GleesonChris O'DowdKelly ReillyAfter he is threatened during a confession, a good-natured priest must battle the dark forces closing in around him.
- DirectorSimon FitzmauriceStarsEvanna LynchGeorge WebsterMichael SmileyOn her 16th birthday, Emily runs away from her foster home and, with the help of her new friend Arden, sets out on a road trip to break her father out of a psychiatric institution.
- DirectorTomm MooreStarsDavid RawleBrendan GleesonLisa HanniganBen, a young Irish boy, and his little sister Saoirse, a girl who can turn into a seal, go on an adventure to free the fairies and save the spirit world.
- DirectorJohn CarneyStarsGlen HansardMarkéta IrglováHugh WalshA modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsStephen ReaJaye DavidsonForest WhitakerA British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisBrenda FrickerAlison WhelanChristy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsRobert ArkinsMichael AherneAngeline BallJimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class.
- DirectorPeter MullanStarsEileen WalshDorothy DuffyNora-Jane NooneThree young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsRyan O'NealMarisa BerensonPatrick MageeAn Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorJohn CrowleyStarsSaoirse RonanEmory CohenDomhnall GleesonAn Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within.
- DirectorJohn CarneyStarsFerdia Walsh-PeeloAidan GillenMaria Doyle KennedyA young lad notices a beautiful girl who begins to occupy his thoughts. While struggling with poverty, personal relationships and life's woes, he starts a band, hoping to catch her attention.
- DirectorLisa Barros D'SaGlenn LeyburnStarsCathal MaguirePeter KellyCharlie BerkeleyA chronicle of Terri Hooley's life, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk-rock scene.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsJudi DenchSteve CooganSophie Kennedy ClarkA world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
- DirectorRichie SmythStarsJamie DornanEmmanuelle SeignerMark StrongIrish Commandant Pat Quinlan leads a stand off with troops against French and Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo during the early 1960s.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsRichard HarrisJohn HurtSean BeanWhen a field (which has been farmed by the McCabe family for generations) goes up for auction, the patriarch of the McCabe family will stop at nothing to prevent a rich American from buying it.
- DirectorLance DalyStarsHugo WeavingJames FrechevilleStephen ReaSet in Ireland during the Great Famine, the drama follows an Irish Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroad, as he abandons his post to reunite with his family.
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsAisling FranciosiMaya ChristieBaykali GanambarrSet in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.
- DirectorTomm MooreRoss StewartStarsHonor KneafseyEva WhittakerSean BeanA young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night.
- DirectorYann DemangeStarsJack O'ConnellSam ReidSean HarrisIn 1971, a young and disoriented British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the deadly streets of Belfast.
- DirectorMatt BissonnetteStarsGabriel ByrneJessica ParéBrian GleesonA carousing college professor's life takes a series of unimaginable turns, and all the old stories are given a new twist, when he begins to have surreal hallucinations and learns he may not be long for this world.
- DirectorJack ReynorStarsWill PoulterKelly ThorntonToni O'RourkeDuring the last year of The Great Famine in Ireland, a farmhand working for the local landlord has hardened his heart against his countrymen to ensure his own survival. But when he encounters a ghostly female figure stealing milk from the landlord's barn his resolve is tested and he is beguiled on a journey towards hope. Inspired by ancient Irish mythology and traditional Japanese folk tales, as recorded by Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn during his time in Japan in the late 19th and early 20th century, 'Bainne' is an extension of the history of storytelling from both cultures.
- DirectorKenneth BranaghStarsJude HillLewis McAskieCaitríona BalfeA young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsBarry WardFrancis MageeAileen HenryDuring the Depression, Jimmy Gralton returns home to Ireland after ten years of exile in America. Seeing the levels of poverty and oppression, the activist in him reawakens and he looks to re-open the dance hall that led to his deportation.
- DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonKerry CondonTwo lifelong friends find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them.
- DirectorMartin McDonaghStarsColin FarrellBrendan GleesonCiarán HindsAfter a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
- DirectorSebastián LelioStarsFlorence PughTom BurkeKíla Lord CassidyA tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
- DirectorColm BairéadStarsCarrie CrowleyAndrew BennettCatherine ClinchIn rural Ireland, a quiet, neglected girl is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with relatives for the summer where she blossoms and learns what it is to be loved.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsCillian MurphyMorgan JonesEva BirthistleIn the 1970s, a young trans woman, Patrick "Kitten" Braden, comes of age by leaving her Irish town for London, in part to look for her mother and in part because her gender identity is beyond the town's understanding.