Our Staff Picks column takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version of Staff Picks has a decidedly skintillating angle, as we suss out which films from a certain genre or year with great nudity. This week: Irish movies.
It's St. Patrick's Day week - it feels like this goes on for a full week anyway - so I wanted to highlight Irish movies. Not British movies, although some of these are co-productions with British companies, but Irish movies. Admittedly, there is not a ton of female nudity in Irish films. They must be too shy or too Catholic to go super nude, but these are good films with decent scenes that you will really enjoy. Get your shamrocks off with these films:
In the Name of the Father
Jim Sheridan directed this 1993 film starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a Belfast man who gets strong-armed into confessing to an I.R.A. bombing that he had nothing to do with. Things get tense in this interesting film that delves more into the conflicts with the I.R.A. so it's a peek into history that you might think you know about, but you likely don't know enough about (assuming, of course, that you did not live in Ireland or England at that time!).
There is no explicit nudity, but we do briefly get buns from Saffron Burrows. She rolls around in the grass and we get to see what's going on underneath her dress. Who wouldn't want to Burrow into that?
Circle of Friends
Pat O'Connor directed this saucy romance that also stars Saffron Burrows. Two friends from the same small Irish town wind up going to Trinity College in Dublin together. This drama takes a look at friendship, romance, and class as the friends encounter people from higher social classes than they are in and one of them has her eyes set on a rich guy who might be able to help her climb to a higher social stratum.
One way of doing must be slipping down your top. She briefly bares boob in one scene but has a ton of cleavage alongside Minnie Driver in others.
Ondine
This 2009 drama stars Colin Farrell as a fisherman who finds a woman...like in a net. He literally nets up a woman who turns out to be a mermaid. He believes the mermaid must be magic, so she takes the mermaid home to help heal her sick daughter. Can she? I won't spoil anything for you in this magical movie that blends fantasy with drama by adding a dash of mermaid sexiness.
Alicja Bachleda-Curus is the hot lady of the water who has her skirt hiked up to show her booty cheeks when she is pulling herself up out of the water. You can see this wet-n-wild woman here:
In America
This Jim Sheridan film from 2002 is a modern immigrant story in which an Irish family comes to America to live in late 20th century New York City. They settle in Hell's Kitchen as they try to get through being brand new to the entire country, let alone the city, and deal with the death of a child. Wow, that's a lot! It helps that Irish siren Samantha Morton takes off her bra and shows off her lucky clovers.
This is an emotional, beautiful movie that shows us once again how good of a filmmaker Jim Sheridan is!
The Lodgers
It's time for a wee bit o' horror! Brian O'Malley directed this 2017 horror film set in rural Ireland in the early 1900s. Twins Rachel and Edward are grown adults who live in a scary mansion that also happens to house a bunch of ghosts. My advice? Move! The twins don't do that (otherwise there wouldn't be a movie), but they follow strict rules like going to bed by midnight and not letting any visitors on the grounds.
Sounds easy, but it obviously isn't. Rules get broken and the spirits come out which sends the twins on a fight for their life. Charlotte Vega plays Rachel and she shows her booty in three scenes
Ordinary Love
2019's romantic drama Ordinary Love stars Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville as a married couple who go through a difficult time after Lesley's character gets breast cancer. The couple goes through it together in a very difficult drama that shows us how much they love one another through this difficult time. It's a tear-jerker, but watching the topless Lesley Manville get manhandled is a jerker in a different way.
Frank
Now it's time for a comedy! Lenny Abrahamson directed this film starring the one and only Domhnall Gleeson as a musician who dreams of making it big. He might get a break after all when he fills in as a keyboardist for a band that is fronted by a character named Frank, a man wearing a giant paper-mache head. Frank invites Dom to play with him all over Ireland and record their first album, but soon tensions arise in the band.
Not only that but Dom's girlfriend is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal who stars to wonder out loud whether or not Frank is someone to trust. Why does he wear the mask? Is any of this actually going to happen? Is he just a delusional dreamer? You have to watch to find out. At least you get to see Maggie's fun baggies in the hot tub!
The Last of the High Kings
David Keating directed this 1996 classic about a teen in the late 1970s who has one crazy summer before he goes to college. A young Jared Leto plays Frankie, an Irish student who waited to get the exam scores that will let him know whether or not he will go to the college of his dreams. As he waits, he parties at the beach with hot babes.
One of those hot babes is Lorraine Pilkington who has a terrific nude scene in which she slips her bra off. You can check out that scene here:
