The best movies set in Ireland

Stanley Kubrick doesn’t make things easy on himself or anybody that makes movies with him. Barry Lyndon is 187 minutes long and shot mostly with natural lighting. It was not a financial success, but this adaptation of a William Makepeace Thackery novel was a critical success. Barry Lyndon is considered one of his masterpieces.

A lot of times, Saoirse Ronan has to hide her Irish brogue. Not in Brooklyn. The movie is a period piece about a young woman who leaves her native Ireland for Brooklyn, New York. The whole movie isn’t set in Ireland, but plenty of it is. Plus, the movie got three Oscar nominations, including Ronan.

The Commitments is a bit of a cult classic. It’s a film about working-class Dubliners who form a soul band. In addition to being a beloved movie to its dedicated audience, its soundtrack went triple platinum.

OK, so Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman can’t do the most accurate Irish accents. It happens. Far and Away is another movie about Irish immigrants coming to the United States, but the essence of Ireland runs through this film.

Before The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola made Finian’s Rainbow. It’s a musical starring Fred Astaire, and a leprechaun is prominently involved. And yet, it’s got plenty of charm. It was pretty well received at the time, and the Coen brothers consider Finian’s Rainbow one of their favorite films.

You may think of Frank as that movie where Michael Fassbender wears a big fake head over his head — if you think of it at all. At its heart, it’s a funny, biting, emotional movie about a marginally talented musician who gloms onto an experimental band led by a mentally ill man he envies. The movie hops around in terms of setting, but a good chunk of the film is set in Ireland, where the band is recording.

Gorgo is something of a Godzilla ripoff. However, it’s an Irish Godzilla rip-off. That’s fun! Sure, Gorgo ended up on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but even without Mike and the bots, it’s an entertaining wash.

Grabbers is a goofy horror comedy, but it's an enjoyable watch if you are in the right frame of mind. Tentacled aliens siege an Irish town, and the townsfolk realize they are safe if they are drunk. That’s a recipe for some facile but effective comedy.

There were a lot of Quentin Tarantino rip-offs in the wake of Pulp Fiction. The Guard is kind of late to the party on the Tarantino riff front, but that’s not entirely a condemnation. Tarantino movies are pretty good by and large! Plus, The Guard stars Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson, two great actors.

Many consider this sequel to Hellboy better than the original. It’s a globetrotting adventure, but for a period, that adventure takes them to the island of Ireland. Guillermo del Toro fans likely won’t be disappointed.

Daniel Day-Lewis was born in England, but his father Cecil was born in Ireland, so there is some Irish in Day-Lewis. As such, he’s been in a few films playing real Irish people. Day-Lewis is one of the greatest actors ever to live, so it’s probably an honor to be played by Day-Lewis. However, he was one of three actors nominated for Oscars for In the Name of the Father.

A movie can be animated and still set in Ireland. The Last Unicorn is based on a book of the same name and is a Rankin/Bass production. The voiceover cast is quite impressive, including Mia Farrow as the titular unicorn.

Before doing career-best work alongside Roger Rabbit and slumming it as Mario in that terrible Super Mario movie, Bob Hoskins had his breakout in this film. It’s a classic British gangster film — all grime and violence. Hoskins was great, and British publications often call it one of the best British films ever.

Michael Collins is a key figure in the history of Irish independence. A biopic on Collins may not be obvious to an American audience, but we assume it makes sense for Irish folks. A pre-actor star version of Liam Neeson stars as Collins in this serious biopic that became the highest-grossing movie ever in Ireland for a little while.

Day-Lewis is back at it. He won an Oscar for playing Irish artist Christy Brown. DDL gives a very visceral performance, but he wasn’t the only Oscar winner for this film. Brenda Fricker also won for playing Brown’s mother.

This British film wasn’t a big hit in the United States. It was released in America as Your Past is Showing, a much worse title. It carries a reputation as a sharp satire. One of its stars is Peter Sellers, who was en route to breaking out as one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

All these years later, The Quiet Man is probably still the quintessential Irish film. That’s despite the fact it stars John Wayne, who doesn’t exactly scream "Ireland.” However, he’s playing a boxer from Pittsburgh who returns to his family’s farm in a small village in Ireland. He makes more sense as a fish out of water and had Maureen O’Hara to play off. John Ford won Best Director for this film.

David Lean knew how to make a beautiful epic. Sure, Ryan’s Daughter runs 195 minutes. The movie tells the story of a married Irish woman who has an affair with a British soldier during World War I. War, romance, a massive running time? Truly, it is quintessentially Lean.

A beloved animated film, The Secret of Kells kicks it old school. That is to say, it’s set in the ninth century. Vikings invading Ireland are prominently involved. While it was not a big hit, people who saw it tended to love it. The Secret of Kells got an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

As an Irish farce, the titular Ned Devine is an elderly man in a small Irish village who wins the national lottery. He then promptly dies. Two other older gents decide surely Ned would have wanted to share the wealth, so they go about trying to pull off machinations that can get them his winnings. Even though, you know, he’s dead.